The White Furies
by Nightfury991
Summary: Inside us all, there is a darker side to us; a side that can do unspeakable horrors, and sometimes it can get out...Hiccup discovers this after an encounter with a strange boy called Marko, who has secrets that he'd wish...to stay secret.
1. Chapter 1

The White Fury Tribe:

It was one of those rare sunny days of the island of Berk, so Dragons and Vikings alike were taking full advantage of the weather; some of the humans were taking a walk around the village, while all of the dragons were taking to the skies to stretch their wings. Well, almost all of the dragons...

Toothless, a Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, was curled up on the grass, eyes closed, and purring loudly as his rider, Hiccup, scratched him in his favourite spot; _right_ under the chin. Hiccup was leaning against the Night Fury's inner side, sighing as the sunlight warmed his body. It had been almost a month since the battle with the Red Death, and Berk had hardly changed at all, unless you count the mass migration of Dragons to Berk that happened just days after the Battle. It had been a nightmare for Stoic to sort out sleeping arrangements for all the new comers.

After a few days of living hell, it was sorted so that all the new Dragons were living with their own breed in separate caves just above the docks. Nothing else happened much that next couple of weeks, just the weekly collection of young Vikings, wanting to learn how to become dragon riders. This was held at the old arena, and was lead by Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and her Nadder, Stormfly.

Hiccup, along with Toothless' help, had taught all the things that they needed to know about dragons, how to calm one down when it was angry, where under the chin that they liked being scratched the most, and how to communicate with them while they were flying.

"Hey, Toothless?" asked Hiccup, causing the dragon to be pulled from his thoughts, his round eyes staring at him. "Do you want to go for a flight? I mean, it's getting a bit boring just sitting here."

As soon as he heard the word 'flight', Toothless was standing up, wings stretched out, looking at the boy with puppy dog eyes, waiting for him to get on. Because he already had his fake tail fin on, they were up in the sky sooner than they normally would. The sky hadn't been this clear in days, both Hiccup and Toothless could see for miles, Toothless seeing further for him being a dragon. But he felt something that Hiccup couldn't, not yet anyway. He felt like... He was being watched.

When Toothless looked around, he couldn't see anyone or anything at that level, except for a nearby cloud that they passed. But as soon as he looked away, he and Hiccup heard an ear-splitting roar. They both looked around to see what the source of the noise was, and it felt as if their hearts had stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

What appeared to be a Night Fury shaped cloud was racing towards the ground at a blinding speed, and below it, there was what appeared to be another much smaller cloud, but this one was half white, and half brown. What kind of cloud was this? But that didn't matter right now, for Hiccup and Toothless had gone into a dive to try and help these strange new-comers.

"Hang on! Were coming!" shouted Hiccup, even though they were fighting to just stay with this new dragon. The dragon must of heard him, because it started to roar franticly, but all Hiccup heard was a bunch of roars, but Toothless heard what was a females voice, _"Help! Please, help my rider!" _

Toothless then turned his attention to the dragon's rider, which appeared to be unconscious, seeing as its limbs were flailing out all over the place. Without a second glance, Toothless dived down as fast as he could without letting Hiccup fall off. After a few harrowing minutes, where they getting nearer and nearer to the ground, Hiccup stretched out his arm and just managed to keep the other dragons rider steady as, slowly, Toothless and the other dragon managed to find a space in the forests just west of Berk big enough for two dragons to land.

Almost as soon as they touched the ground, the other dragon gently but roughly grabbed her rider off of Toothless and dragged him a few meters away. Now they were on the ground, they could fully see what the new dragon was like without risk of falling to their deaths.

She had Toothless' body shape, but was a bit smaller. She had different coloured scales and eyes; her scales were so white that it was almost like she was glowing when the sun hit her. Her eyes were the iciest blue colour you could ever imagine, with a pure black pupil slit down the middle of both of them. She would have been beautiful, if her face didn't have a sad look on it and with the constant nudging of her rider.

But as Hiccup got closer to them, she turned on them and started to growl fiercely. _"Stay away from my rider!"_ she growled in Dragonese. Toothless stood beside Hiccup, who had a worried expression on his face. _"In case you didn't notice, we just saved your riders life. You could at least let my rider make sure that yours is alright." _Toothless growled back at her.

With an unsure look in her eyes, she moved to the side to let Hiccup past. As Hiccup limped towards the rider, Toothless walked towards the Dragon. _"What is your name, by the way?"_ asked Toothless. The Dragon looked at him for a second, and then looked back to her rider. _"My name is Ice."_ Ice whispered. Toothless then leaned towards the right a bit, looking at Hiccup and Ice's rider. _"And what is your rider's name?" _he asked, looking back at Ice.

Ice let out a quick, dragon grunt like laugh, and replied, _"He has many names and titles: White Shadow, the Leader, and Master of the Dark Ones..., I mean, the list endless. But the important thing is that he takes care of me, like I'm one of his own kind. He saved me from death, and for that, I owe him my life."_Having finished, Ice looked back to her rider, who was trying to be woken by Hiccup. She then turned back to Toothless, a curious look on her face.

"_So now that I've told you my life story,"_ she said, _"I would like to know about yours. How did you and your rider meet?"_ Toothless looked, somewhat surprised, at Ice, but he then sighed, and started his story, _"I meet my rider, Hiccup, after he shot me down."_ He looked up to see Ice startled, but he quickly said, _"Dragons were still raiding Berk and the war between Vikings and Dragons was still on. Anyway, when Hiccup found me, he lifted his dagger and I thought that he would kill me, but instead, he cut my ropes and set me free. But when he shot me down, he took off my left tail fin, preventing me from flying on my own ever again."_ He quickly flashed his fake red tail fin to Ice, who looked at Toothless with sympathy. _"After Hiccup earned my trust, he helped me back in the sky. But soon after, his father, Stoic the Vast, found out and he went to destroy the Nest with his entire village. But Hiccup, being the brave, but sometimes clumsy, person he is, managed to kill the Queen, but he lost his leg in her fire." _

Toothless finished his story,not looking at Ice. Ice looked back to Hiccup and her rider, and saw Hiccup's left leg, and could not help but not feel sorry for the boy, who had given so much to save his enemy. Still, Hiccup had not managed to revive Ice's rider. She looked back to Toothless. _"I heard that the Nest was destroyed, but I never thought that a human help in it. I'm sorry about the boy."_ She whispered, before nuzzling her head against Toothless' neck.

Toothless was at first startled, but soon accepted the nuzzle. Suddenly, however, Ice pulled away, looking as though she hadn't meant to do that. _"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that..."_ whispered Ice, who seemed to be having a starring contest with the ground. Toothless was about to say something when they heard a voice, "Hey, come here! He's starting to wake up!" It was Hiccup, and he had finally managed to revive Ice's rider. As though she was lightning, Ice was at her rider's side, looking thankfully to Hiccup, then back to her rider, whimpering slightly and nudging her rider's arm with her paw. By this time, Toothless had returned to Hiccup's side, and sat down, also looking down at the rider. After a couple of seconds, the riders eyes shot open, and he tried to sit up, but Hiccup prevented him for doing so, by putting his hands on his shoulder.

The rider then started to talk gibberish. Hiccup just sat there with a confused expression, but when he looked up, Toothless and Ice both wore different expressions: Toothless wore one of shock and confusion, but Ice had one of relief. Toothless, still shocked, looked up to meet Ice's eyes, and managed to say, _"H-h-he speaks OUR way? He speaks Dragonese?" _ Ice just looked at him, puzzled.

"_Don't your humans speak our way, too?" _asked Ice. Toothless shook his head, and Ice just cocked her head slightly to the right._ "That's strange, because from where I come from, all humans learn to speak Dragonese"_ Muttered Ice, but Toothless still heard her. He looked back to the other human, and since he was paying attention to Ice so much, he didn't take in what her rider looked like.

He noticed immediately that Ice and her rider shared one thing in common, they both had the same eye colour: icy blue that looked as though they were looking right through you. At a closer look, he didn't look a couple of years older than Hiccup, and he was barely 16 human years. He couldn't see his facial features so good though, as he had a piece of clothing up and over his head, hiding his face and leaving it in shadows. Upon a second glance, he noticed that the fabric covering the riders head had a point on the end of it, that closely resembled a bird Toothless saw once – what was it called again – oh, yeah, an eagle! That's what the humans called it, an eagle. But why was it like how it was? As he looked at the rider some more, he noticed something that made his eyes widen.

Where his stomach was, there was a large, crimson coloured circle in the centre of the riders stomach. Toothless looked around, and found a bloody arrow stabbed into the ground. _**Hiccup must have pulled it out of him and stabbed it there, **_though Toothless. Toothless turned round so that he was facing Hiccup, Ice and her rider again, to find that Hiccup had let go of Ice's rider, who was now speaking in Hiccup's language.

"You...speak...this language?" asked Ice's rider. Hiccup nodded, and the rider looked mildly surprised. "Odd. Where I come from, we learn to speak the way of the dragon when we are still young. Oh, I'm sorry, but what's your name?" questioned the rider, his left hand outstretched. Hiccup, who still looked mildly shocked, outstretched his own left hand and shook the rider's hand. "Hiccup. And who are you?" asked Hiccup.

"My title is White Shadow, but you can call me Marko." Answered Marko. Marko then looked over to Ice, and said, in Dragonese, _"Good thing we landed here, eh Ice? Better than the sea anyway."_ Ice nodded in agreement. He looked back to Hiccup. "Oh, sorry, didn't I say? My dragons named is Ice." He then looked over to his right and saw Toothless. "And who's the Night Fury?" asked Marko.

"His name is Toothless" Answered Hiccup, and Marko, with some difficulty stood up and walked the few steps towards Toothless, until he was just in front of him. "You mean that's the name that YOU gave him?" asked Marko, before kneeling down until he was eye level with Toothless, who's eyes were as round as the perfect circular rock. He then started to talk gibberish to Toothless, who, amazingly, started to growl back.

After a couple more of these, with a few "oh, I see" and the odd "well I never" coming from Marko, he pulled himself up to his full height, which was about half a head taller than Hiccup. He turned around to the boy, and stated, "'Toothless' real name is actually Shadow Fly, but he doesn't mind being called either of those names." Marko then turned back to Ice and started to walk a few steps before stopping and turning back to Hiccup, saying, "Oh, and two other things." Hiccup looked over to Toothless, then back to Marko. "Go on," asked Hiccup.

"One, Shadow Fly, or 'Toothless', doesn't like it that much when you call him a 'pet', and Two, apparently, you don't give him enough cod for his dinner. Is that right?" asked Marko, turning back to Toothless. Toothless looked at Marko, and then at Hiccup, cocked his head slightly, before quickly nodding. He turned back to Hiccup, whose jaw was hanging open. Suddenly, Marko smacked his hand against his forehead. "STUPID! Sorry, all over the place today, um, where are we, exactly?" he asked, to a rather confused Hiccup and Toothless.

"Um, you're on Berk." At this statement, Marko's eyes went wide with shock. "No! Then that must mean youre Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III! That would explain the Night Fury." By the way he said it, you would've thought that he had only just met him...oh, wait, he DID just meet him...

Anyway, after a bit of pacing, Marko came to a stop in front of Hiccup and clapped his hands together. "Right then, which way to Berk?" he asked, to which Hiccup replied, "Follow us." Together, they mounted Toothless and Ice, and were soon high in the skies over Berk. The gentle wind passed by them, and Marko couldn't help but let out a small sigh. "Ah, this is the life. Flying and spending some quality time with your dragon, nothing more could a man ask for." He looked down at Ice, which he gently gave a rub against her head, with resulted in a happy purr. He then said something to her in Dragonese, while looking at Toothless, which, after he finished, resulted with a light hit against his head with one of Ice's ear flaps. While rubbing the side of his head, he said, "Hey, I'm just saying what I'm seeing! I've seen the way you look at him." This resulted with a playful warning growl from Ice, to which Marko replied, "OK, OK, I'll stop."

After a few more minutes of silent flying, the two riders and dragons landed on a recently made dragon landing area, so dragons could land somewhere outside of Berk, without fear of accidental hitting something important, like a human or a house, for example. When they both dismounted their dragons they were surprised to see that the village was quiet, and that no one was in the centre of the village. Hiccup turned to the sun, which was nearly gone behind the clouds. His eyes widened. How long were they gone for? His thoughts were interupted by Marko talking to him. "Listen, you better get back to your house, don't worry about us" he stated, as Hiccup was about to open his mouth in protest. "We'll find somewhere to sleep in the forest for tonight, then we'll show up again in the morning."

He finished, looking at Hiccup and Toothless, expecting them to ask something. Hiccup soon spoke up, "Um, would Ice like to stay in the dragon house? It's just beyond the tree line, over there" he said, pointing to a large, shabby looking house near the dock-side cliffs.

Marko looked at Ice, who growled as though she was talking to another one of her kind. He then turned back to Hiccup and Toothless, saying, "She doesn't mind sharing somewhere to sleep with the other dragons, but she would prefer it if Toothless was there with her, you know, so that she at least knows someone there." He was actually talking more to Toothless than to Hiccup, but both were looking at Ice, who suddenly became rather interested in her left forepaw.

Hiccup finally spoke up, "Um, actually, Toothless sleeps in my room, so, sorry Ice." But Ice wasn't looking at Hiccup she just started to shake her head and then turned towards the forest. Before long, she started to butt her head against Marko's back, towards a random direction at the woods, "Hey! ... OK, OK, we're going! Sorry Hiccup, but it looks like we're going to spend the night in the forest! Night!" And with a final flick of Ice's tail, they were both out of sight beyond the tree line.

Shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, Hiccup slowly started to limp towards his home with Toothless following behind him, ready to catch him in case he fell. After a rather uneventful walk, all except the odd slip by Hiccup, who was always put back up straight by Toothless, they arrived at Hiccups and his father's house. Slowly, Hiccup pushed open the door and noticed immediately that his father wasn't in, the absence of his thunderous snoring wasn't that easy to miss. Trying to be as quiet as he could, in case his father was in fact in, but was so drunk that he wasn't snoring, Hiccup made his way upstairs with Toothless creeping up behind him. When they finally reached his room, Toothless turned so that his side was facing Hiccup, allowing him to remove his saddle and fake tailfin, which were then placed by Hiccups' work bench.

"Night, bud," muttered Hiccup, which received a tired grunt from Toothless, as they both made their way towards their sleeping space: Hiccup, his bed, and Toothless, the spot right beside Hiccups' bed. As Toothless curled up beside his rider's bed, purring, Hiccup sat on his bed, and undid the strap that was attaching his prosthetic leg to his stump. When it was removed, he placed it on his bedside desk, ready to get in the morning, and then he took off his brown over vest, and placed it on his front leg bed post. He was soon lying down with both his hands behind his head, looking up at the ceiling, thinking,_ this has a really weird day, _before drifting off into an uneventful sleep...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Hiccup was woken up early the next morning by the sound of angry shouts and fierce growls. Not knowing what he would face when he got out the door, Hiccup grabbed his prosthetic leg and quickly tried to do up the strap. After finally putting it in place, Hiccup jumped out of bed, and in the process, he accidently woke up Toothless, who lifted his head up to look at Hiccup walking down the stairs as fast as he could, and then he heard the growling of dragons outside, before standing up and trotting after Hiccup, who by that time, had wrenched open the front door and was looking out of the gap that it left, with a mixture of shock and confusion attached to his face.

There stood Marko, his pointed white fabric covering his face, and by the way he was standing, you could tell that he was relaxed, even though he was completely surrounded by the entire villages settlement of Vikings, all of them carrying axes, spears, spiked maces, or at least some kind of object that could inflict some damage to this stranger if he put a foot out of place. The Dragons, however, were gathering around the other side of the village, all growling rather quietly.

Stoic, looking rather heavy eyed, walking part way between the gap that separated the village and the strange new comers, and silence fell upon the village, Vikings and Dragons alike. "What are you doing here, stranger? Who are you?" asked Stoic, his eyes trying to bore into Marko's eyes. But Marko wasn't looking at Stoick, but was looking over Stoick's shoulder and had spotted Hiccup. "Ah, Hiccup," said Marko clearly. Everyone, Vikings and Dragons, turned their head towards Hiccup and Toothless, who were wide eyed and there suddenly became very uncomfortable.

Slowly, Hiccup limped towards to ring of Vikings, where a pathway made itself between two Vikings that Hiccup had seen a few times in the village, and continued all the way to the middle. The walk seemed like an eternity to Hiccup, feeling all of those eyes on you, watching your every step. But before he could reach the middle, Stoic held out his hand to stop Hiccup going any farther. "Do you know this man?" asked Stoic, glaring at Hiccup. Hiccup gulped nervously, before breathing in deeply, and saying, "Yeah, I know him. His name is Marko, me and Toothless found him just outside the forests of the south." When Hiccup stopped, his father looked at him, as though looking for any sign that he was lying. But before long, his eyes softened ever so slightly, before sighing, "Well, if he's a friend of yours, then he can stay. But he will need to build his own house, but in the mean time, he will have to stay somewhere else."

Hiccup released a huge sigh of relieve that he didn't know that he was holding. At least he knew that they weren't going to kill Marko. Stoic turned around to face the rest of the village, "Well, don't you all have work to do? MOVE!" Slowly, the crowd started to thin, and Stoic nodded and muttered something that sounded like, "I'm just gonna go home for a bit," and Hiccup waited until there were just five figures still there: Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs, all of whom were still staring at Marko with uncertainty. Hiccup looked over to Marko and, nodding his head towards the other dragon trainers, saying, "Well, Hiccup? Aren't you going to introduce me into your friends?" Hiccup thought it over for a bit, before shedding a small smile, "Sure, come one." Following Hiccup, Marko walked up to the teens, whose dragons were now behind them, looking curiously at Marko. When they both stopped in front of them, Astrid was the first to say something, "Hiccup, who actually IS this...Marko?"

Hiccup just sighed and then told them all what happened exactly as he remembered. Fishlegs had his jaw hanging open for most of the story, Ruffnut and Astrid had expressions of puzzlement, and Tuffnut, along with Snotlout, both wore expressions that said 'Do you really expect us to believe that?' After Hiccup finished the story, Fishlegs asked a question that Hiccup had forgot to ask him, "Um, Hiccup? Where exactly is Marko from, anyway?" Hiccup opened his mouth to answer, but closed it when he realised something: he never got to ask Marko where he was from, not even what tribe he was part of.

He turned to Marko, who was looking over to the few remaining dragons that were still watching him in case something strange happened. "Um, Marko?" asked Hiccup, and Marko turned around to face him, "what island are you from, or what tribe are you part of?" At these words, Marko dropped his gaze from

the teens and looked hard at the ground. He sighed, and bringing his hands up to his pointed fabric covering his face, and pushed it back over his head, then showing his face to the teens, whose mouths were open in shock.

He had a large scar just below his right eye: it ran from just below his right ear, and stopped just as it reached the side of his nose. On the other side of his face, he had a tattoo that Hiccup found familiar: it was a picture of a Night Fury, and it was as black as the night sky, and it went from the side left side of his chin to the top of his left ear. His icy blue eyes only added to the fear that was coming from him. His hair was something of a surprise: unlike the rest of his face, which looked formidable, his hair resembled something close to Hiccup, except that instead of brown, Marko's was jet black. When he spoke, it wasn't his normal, cheery voice, but was a voice that sounded of pure ice. "I...am...one...of...The White Furies."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Hiccup stood on the spot, frozen. His father had told him stories of the White Fury Tribe, but he had always told him that they were just a legend. A myth. They weren't real, or were they? Hadn't he just seen a white-coloured Night Fury just the other day, along with this person who claimed to be part of the legendary tribe? He then heard a laugh from his side, he turned to see Snotlous holding his ribs and laughing loudly.

When he managed to stand up straight, he looked at Marko and said, "Do you really expect us to believe something as stupid as that, do you?" Marko looking Snotlout dead in the eye, and surprisingly, smiled.

"I'll prove it to you," he said in the same, cold icy tone. He then brought his left hand to his mouth, put his thumb and first finger between his lips, and whistled a long, low-pitched tone. The teens waited for a few seconds. Nothing happened. Then, a loud, ear-splitting roar came out from beyond the trees. The teens turned around, eyes widened. Marko looked at Hiccup, smiling, and mouthed the word, "_Ice," _and the trees that made up the tree line started to shudder as another, much louder roar broke between the trees. All of a sudden, a pure white dragon burst out of the treetops and raced towards the teens, Hiccup, and Marko.

Fishlegs screamed and ran as fast as his short legs would carry him; Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were stuck to the spot, to terrified to move, but Astrid had somehow found an axe that someone must of dropped and had it ready in her hands, waiting as Ice got closer, and closer, and closer. Marko then managed to see Astrid holding the axe just before Ice reached them: He launched himself at the axe, and managed to wrench the weapon out of Astrid's hands and sunk the bladed end deep into the soil. They all turned round to see a pair of the same icy-blue eyes the Marko had, starring right into them.

"Ah, Ice, glad you came," said Marko to Ice, who purred loudly and rubbed her head against his arm, completely ignoring the other teens. Marko turned back to the teens, causing Ice to look at them as well, and her pupils slowly turned into slits, and started to growl softly. Marko then spoke to her in Dragonese, but whatever he said, her pupils turned back into circles and the growling stopped. "Ice, you've already met Hiccup," said Marko, lifting his hand up to Hiccup, and she walked up to him, sniffing his for a second, before purring softly and rubbing her head against his right leg. "And these," said Marko, pointing to the other teens, "Are Hiccups friends, who are called...," Marko was waiting for

Hiccup to tell him there names. When he finally caught on, he said, "Um, Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Fishlegs," and pointed to each of the teens as he said there names, and each time, Ice slowly walked up to them, smelled them for a second, before nodding and walking back so that she was next to Marko. "Um, what's your dragon's name?" asked Astrid, looking at Ice curiously.

"Her name is Ice, and her species are the White Furies." Answered Marko, and the teens eyes widened even more than they had earlier: they knew that Toothless' species, the Night Furies, were extremely rare, but how rare were the White Furies, as they weren't even mentioned in the Book of Dragons? Fishlegs was the first to burst into a full round up of questions that were related to the White Furies, including; 'how fast is the White Fury's top speed?' and 'what's the largest size that a White Fury can reach?'

After a full five minutes of question assault from him, Fishlegs stopped talking and ran back to his house, saying something that remotely sounded like 'getting the Book of Dragons', and was soon block from sight when several Vikings, talking and laughing to each other, walked past. Marko turned to face Hiccup; his right eyebrow raised, and asked, "Does that kid ever stop asking questions about Dragons?" Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders, before saying, "He doesn't ask questions all the time, but he always asks when there a new Dragon that's not in Book of Dragons, or when he finds out that he's missed out something important about them."

Seeming satisfied with the answer, Marko lifted his hands up to behind his head, and lifted back up the white fabric, so that its shadows covered his face. "So," started Marko, clasping his hands together, and Hiccup was instantly reminded of how he had first met Marko, "where's Berk's blacksmith?"

Hiccup, slightly startled, said, "Um... I'M the blacksmith. Well, the blacksmiths apprentice, anyway." Marko cocked his head slightly to the left, before saying, "Well, that's even better." Hiccup was now even more confused that he was before. "Why is that batter?" Hiccup asked, but Marko just shook his head. "I'll tell you when we get there," answered Marko, and Hiccup just said, "Fine," before started to slowly limp towards the Blacksmiths, Marko right beside him, and Ice, along with Toothless, followed them, growling quietly to each other, having their own Dragonese conversation.

"So, Marko," started Hiccup, trying to start up their own conversation, "tell me about yourself." Hiccup could've sworn the he saw Marko's left arm twitched for a second, but didn't pay attention to it when Marko sighed and started to tell him his story.

"I was born on an island called Molak, and it was an island unlike any other. I never knew my parents: my father was dead before I was born, and my mother died after she gave birth to me, so I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle. When I turned the age of five, I, like all the other five year olds, were taken to the Arena: it's a tradition of my people, and there is only one rule: try to survive. And by that, they mean by ANY means possible. We stay there until we turn ten, and until then, we learn how to fight. We learn to kill. We are taught three main ways of killing: S, Stealth, BF, Brut Force, and T, Tactics. Most people only choose one of the three, and some choose two. But there are those chosen few who choose to take ALL three of them. I was one of the chosen few. Some people thought I was mad, but most of them thought I was just plain stupid. But there was one being that never gave up on me: Ice."

"The Dragon Initiation Ceremony takes place the day before we go to the Arena, but there's a difference

To how we do it: we let the DRAGONS decide who they want as there riders and Ice didn't even give me a second glance when she chose me. And since that day, she would never leave my side." Marko then lifted his head up and said, "Ah, were here."

Hiccup lurched to a stop and looked up: he had been so wrapped up in Marko's story; he hadn't noticed that they had arrived at the blacksmiths. "Um, yeah, come on in." Hiccup was about to walk in the smithy's, but was stopped by Marko's hand suddenly gripping his shoulder, and he said, "Should I tell Ice to wait out here? With Toothless?" Hiccup paused for a minute before nodding, and Marko nodded and walked over to Ice and Toothless, and spoke to her in Dragonese. When he finished, Ice was looking upset, but Marko put his hand on top of her head, and said something else in Dragonese, and she instantly cheered up. Marko smiled before turning around and walked to Hiccup, and letting him walk through the door to the blacksmiths, and then following.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

_Ice and Toothless_

As they watched Hiccup and Marko walk into the blacksmiths, Ice and Toothless both circled the ground outside the blacksmiths before blasting their flames on the surface, and then lying down and getting comfortable, since it would be a while before they emerged from the shop.

"_So, Ice," _started Toothless, and Ice looked at him,_ "how did you and Marko meet?" _ Ice, after hearing this, looked at the ground, before sighing, _"Well, it's seems only fair, since you did tell me. OK, I'll tell you."_

"_I first saw Marko at the human age of five. It was the Dragons Initiation Ceremony. It's where the Dragons pick their riders," _explained Ice, for Toothless had a confused look on his face. When it cleared, Ice continued,_ "I could tell that something was different about him; the other humans were all looking at the Dragon they wanted dead in the eye, and hoped that they would give in and go to them, but Marko didn't: he was looking at the ground, as though he shouldn't had been there. I had heard his story beforehand, and felt sorry for him. That and we both shared a similar story: we both lost our parents when we were young." _ Toothless felt sorry for Ice: he had never known his parents, so he didn't feel the pain that Ice had for losing them.

"_I'm sorry," _whispered Toothless, but Ice looked at him, with a small smile upon her face. _"Don't be sorry, I barely knew them. I was told that they were both very brave, and that's all I need to know. Now, continuing with the story, I chose Marko and when I did, he looked at me with great surprise, and the other kids were looking at him with jealously. I don't think he blamed them: I was the most powerful Dragon on the island," _said Ice, huffing proudly. Toothless chuckled lightly, but when she looked at him, he quickly stopped and frantically turned his head to the forest, and asked timidly, _"Uh, would you like to take a walk into the forest?" _

Ice's eyes widened by his offer. After a few seconds of thinking, she smiled, and said, _"Sure,"_ and she walked past Toothless, and gently flicked her tail against his face. His eyes widened and he looked at her, shock and wonder in his eyes. Ice giggled softly, before she said, _"Coming?"_ and Toothless came to his sense's and looked as though he was blushing, which made Ice giggled even more. Quickly, beforehe embarrassed himself anymore; he trotted after Ice, and they were soon gone past the tree line on the outskirts of the village, near the blacksmiths.

_Hiccup and Marko_

Marko looked around the blacksmiths backroom in amazement of all the drawings on ideas that Hiccup had. Hiccup just said it was nothing and when to get his apron on. When he came back, he was shocked to see a pile of swords, axes, daggers, and other weapons that had appeared upon his desk. He looked over at Marko, who just shrugged and said, "My weapons are in need of a good sharpen. I trust you can do that well?"

Hiccup, who was still stunned by what had just appeared, just shook his head and grabbed a sword on the very top of the pile, and set to work, grinding the sword against the rolling rock, sparks flying in every direction. "So, why do you think I would do better than Gobbler?" asked Hiccup, but Marko just looked confused. "My mentor," added Hiccup, and the confusion lifted off Marko's face. "Well, I only trust a few people to handle my weapons, and since you rescued and helped me, I trust you." Seeming touched by that answer, Hiccup continued to work on the weapons. While he was doing that, Marko went for a wander around the backroom, looking at more at the pictures and stopping every one and a while to look at a really good one. When Hiccup had finished with the sword, tested its sharpness, and had finished another 2 sword and an axe, Hiccup heard Marko ask him a question, but he hadn't heard him clearly, because of the stone grinding against the axe.

After he stopped the stone, and asked, "Sorry, what did you say?" Marko turned round, but had a finger pointed to an old picture Hiccup had draw a while ago, hiding under several of his newer drawings. "Is this your idea? It looks familiar." Hiccup put down the axe, and walked over to the drawing that Marko was looking at, and he soon remembered what it was: it was a design for a leather vambrace that went around the user's wrist, and had a blade underneath it, so you could stab somebody before they could stop it. "Oh, that, I thought of that a couple of years ago, it's basically a dagger attached to a vambrace that can be used to stab people." Marko was still looking at the design with interest, before he quickly said, "I've got something I want to show you."

Curious, Hiccup walked over to the work table where Marko was waiting, and when he got there, Marko placed his lower left arm on the table, so that the back of his lower arm was against the table. "OK, word of advice," warned Marko to Hiccup, "be careful of my left arm, from now on." Once Hiccup nodded, Marko clenched his left hand into a fist, and released it back into a flat hand; no sooner had he done that, a thin dagger jumped out of his arm, and Hiccup jumped back in shock, which then made him put weight onto his prosthetic leg, and caused him to fall over, but was caught by the arm by Marko, who set him up straight, before saying, "Yeah, I probably should have warned you about that."

Hiccup quickly nodded, and looked at Marko's left arm and he released a huge sigh of relief: the blade wasn't coming out of his wrist anymore. After making sure that he wasn't going to fall, he walked back over to the desk, and Marko walked over to the other side of the desk, and lifted his left sleeve up, rivalling a dark brown vambrace covering his lower left arm. "My tribe are all given this after we complete the Arena training. This is why I found your design familiar." Now that Hiccup got a better look at it, it was really rather good design: it looked as though the blade retracted into a rectangular piece of metal that was attached to the bottom of the vambrace, which had a symbol engraved into the metal. The symbol looked like the Mystery Class from the Book of Dragons.

"When you get your blade, you get a symbol that represents your name in Dragonese. That's what 'Marko' means: 'Mystery'." Hiccup was in shock and awe: he had only known Marko for little under two days, and he had already learned a lot from him. Hiccup then though of a question, "What does 'Hiccup' mean?"

Marko thought for a moment, then he answered, "'Hiccup' is '_Racmonca' _in Dragonese, which is 'Chosen'." Hiccup, today, had learned what his name meant in Dragonese. "So, how are those weapons coming along?" Hiccup quickly looked over to the still quite large pile of weapons that he still needed to finish. "Um, I've finished three swords and that axe over there," he said, pointing at the small pile of four weapons on the other side of the large weapon. "I'll have them finished by nightfall, if I don't stop for anything." Hiccup let out a large sigh, and Marko stepped forward. "It's alright, I'll help you with them: there my weapons, so I should at least help out."

Hiccup was slightly taken aback from this, "Uh, It's alright, I can do it." But Marko put his hand up to stop Hiccup, and shook his head, "No, no, no. I WILL help you, besides; Ice isn't going to be back for a while, because, if I know her, she'll want to go for a fly with Toothless. Trust me; I've seen the way she looks at him."

_Ice and Toothless_

It had been a couple of hours since Ice and Toothless went to have a walk in the forest, and by then, the sun was starting to descend towards the sea, but they still had a good few hours left to get back to Berk. There had been little conversation between the two, as they had both been wrapped up in their own thoughts.

Toothless was thinking about how much he thought of Ice: her slender body shape, her beautiful, calming voice, and the way her eyes shone in the light... Toothless shook his head to clear his head. He was a Night Fury! His kind didn't of this about lower Dragons! But, now that thought about it, wasn't the White Fury near to his rank in the Dragon chain? _"Toothless, are you OK?" _asked Ice. Toothless looked up to Ice, and felt as though he were melting: the way that her body looked in the sun took his breath away. _"Hel-lo, Toothless? Are you in there?" _asked Ice, and Toothless shook his head, and blushed, which caused a smile to spread over Ice's face. _"Y-yeah, I'm fine," _stuttered Toothless, which caused Ice's smile to only widen.

When they continued their walk, Ice went back to her thoughts. Her thoughts about Toothless: they way he looked at, thinking that she couldn't see him, and when she turned round, he quickly turned to face the other way, pretending to be looking at something else, and his blush that was just noticeable under his scales, and that's what made her smile. She was actually smiling in the real world, but, thankfully, Toothless didn't notice. When she noticed it, however, she immediately got rid of it, and thought: _**I wonder if Toothless feels the same way as I do... No, he probably doesn't think of me like that..., **_

After a few minutes more of walking aimlessly, the two reached a break in the trees, and they saw the most beautiful sunset they had both seen in a long time: the sun seemed to blend into the clouds, as it went below the sea, and it resulted in a burst of colours, like red, yellow, orange, and blue. The two were mesmerized by the sight, but after a few minutes, they shook their head, and sat on the cold, hard earth: their body heat warming them. _"Toothless,"_ started Ice, just as Toothless said, _"Ice...,"_

"_No, you first,"_ they both said in unison, which resulted them both to chuckled for a few seconds. When they were finished, Ice took a deep breath, before saying, _"Toothless...these past few days that I've been here...been with you, it's been...fantastic."_ And as she continued, they both started, unknowingly to them, to move towards each other, _"and I just wanted to say...that I...,"_ Ice stopped to take several deep breaths to calm herself, yet Toothless was still waiting for her to finish, _"Yes?," _whispered Toothless, it a way that made Ice shiver on the inside.

"_I just wanted to say, that I..., um, that I've really come to like you, Toothless,"_ said Ice, in no more than a whisper, _"I REALLY like you," _and, without a seconds hesitation, she quickly brushed her snout against Toothless', as a kind of dragon kiss, which left Toothless wide eyed and speechless. When he didn't respond, Ice dropped her gaze from Toothless' eyes, to the grass, and started to talk in a low voice, _"I understand if you don't like me back...It just, well, you're not like the other dragons, Toothless, and that's why I like you," _and still not meeting Toothless' eyes, stood up and slowly started to walk away, her head down, not caring where she was going.

Toothless was, one second, sitting down, wide eyed, looking at Ice's shrinking shape, and the next, he was running as fast as his feet would let him, after Ice, and roaring loudly, _"ICE WAIT!"_ Ice stopped and turned back round, hope evident in her eyes. When Toothless caught up with her, panting slightly, he said, _"Ice, I-I-I'm sorry I didn't say, but...I really like you, too," _and after he said that, he barely had time to breath, when Ice came charging in to him, purring happily and rubbing her head against his neck. And with the force of Ice against him, Toothless fell flat on his back, which only gave Ice more of Toothless to nuzzle against, as she made her way down from his neck, to his chest.

"_Wait,"_ gasped Toothless and Ice looked up at him, wondering why he had asked her to stop, _"Shouldn't we do this somewhere, a little more...private,"_ Toothless whispered, and caused a chill to run down Ice's spine at the word 'private'. After getting off Toothless, he and Ice when to find a cave to spend the night...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

As Ice and Toothless walked into a cave, meanwhile, a couple of miles away, Marko felt a sudden chill run down his spine, and Hiccup noticed this, "Hey, are you OK?," he asked, and Marko just nodded, and muttered, "Must just be the cold."

They had finish sharpening all of Marko's weapons, and when Hiccup had gone to put his apron away, all he saw was an empty work bench and Marko, standing there, and carrying, that Hiccup just noticed, a rather worn and brown backpack. Marko made his way towards the door, turning his head slightly, and asked, "Are you just standing there or are you coming out for a bit of sunshine?" Hiccup smiled, before walking out the door after Marko, and reached into his pocket and lifted a small key out of it, and locked the blacksmiths up for the day.

As they made their way across the village, they were both greeted by several of the Vikings, saying a verbal 'hello' to Hiccup, and a friendly wave of the hand to Marko, which he returned. After a few more minutes of this, they came across a small group of ownerless Nadders and Terrible Terrors. When they were in hearing distance, the Dragons turned around, gave a greeting growl to Hiccup and Marko, to which Marko returned, and Hiccup just stood there, looked confused.

Marko stopped speaking Dragonese and looked at Hiccup, and said, "Oh, I sorry, I'm still not used to translating Dragonese to English, because, well, what's the need when your entire island knows Dragonese?" Hiccup thought it over for a second, and just shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Sure, I'll just head home. See you round, Marko." And with that, Hiccup turned and limped towards his house.

When Hiccup was out of earshot, one of the Nadders that was the closest to Marko, quickly spoke to him, _"So, I take it that you're the new arrival that can speak our way?"_ Marko turned his head to face the Nadders, chuckled, before saying, _"If I wasn't, then I wouldn't answer that question, would I?" _The other dragons chuckled lightly, but before long, the Nadder hissed at them, shunting them up instantly.

Marko then noticed that one of the Terrors had walked up to his foot, and had started to climb up his leg, and then up his back, before finally stopping on his right shoulder. It then spoke, _"So, why actually have you come, to all places, Berk, Mystery?"_ Marko looked at the Terror, before sighing, _"Well, it was the closest island I could think of after what happened there,"_ explained Marko. The Nadders and Terrors squinted their eyes in confusion: they had not heard news coming from Molak.

Before they had a chance to ask him any question, and sighed, and said, _"I don't want to talk about it,"_ and they decided just to leave it at that. After a few moments silence, one of the Terrors on the ground said, _"Hey, look. Here come Toothless and Ice."_ Marko's head immediately turned his head to face them, and sure enough, their they were: Ice, her pure white scales shining in the sun, and who had a rather unusually happy look on her face, and Toothless, who seemed to be Ice's shadow, with his midnight black scales, and a sort of mildly shocked look on his face. With a curious look playing across his face, Marko stood up, took the Terrible Terror off his shoulder and put it on the ground, before saying, _"Back in a minute, just got to ask them something a minute..."_

He then walked over to the two dragons, who had now started to growl to each other lightly, before Marko coughed loudly, making both of them jump slightly. _"Um, Ice, can I have a word with Toothless, please? Alone?"_ Ice looked at Marko for a couple of seconds, but then nodded and nuzzled Toothless' neck, then went to look for something to eat. When she was out of sight, Marko turned to Toothless, and then asked casually, _"So, what did you to get up to while me and Hiccup were at the blacksmiths?"_ Toothless suddenly looked at the ground, and gulped quietly, before saying, _"Um, n-n-not much, just...you know, went for a walk in the woods, and you know, nothing special..." _Toothless was still looking at the ground went he mumbled something that Marko didn't hear fully.

"_I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part, what did you say?"_ asked Marko, a hint of ice in his voice. Toothless sighed: it was now or never..., _"Ah, alright, alright. OK, don't get angry or anything...but, I think me and Ice are going to be parents."_ Marko eyes widened, and Toothless waited to see the rest of his reaction. But he didn't do or say anything for the next few minutes. But when he did, it was in an unnaturally high tone that didn't suit Marko, _"Well, um, that's, um...quite a shock. Um, I sorry, but I'm going to do something really sissy now, and pass out."_ He then smiled an unusual grin, before slowly leaning back and, eventually, was lying on the grass, eyes closed, and completely pale.

Toothless was just standing there, wide eyed: he had expected Marko to pass out. Go completely mad, yes, but not pass out...A couple of the Nadders had seen Marko fall to the ground, and a walked towards Toothless, wondering what had happened. _"Night Fury, what have you said to Mystery?"_ Toothless just turned to look at Marko's, still, unmoving body, before facing the Nadders again, before telling them,"_Well, I don't know for sure yet, but I think me and Ice are going to be a mother and father."_ The Nadders just stood there, their jaws hanging open. They then both closed their jaws, before congratulating Toothless. But they didn't notice Astrid and Stormfly coming down from the upper village, and they spotted Marko, just lying there, with Toothless turned around and grunting at two other Nadders. Astrid turned to Stormfly, who just cocked her head in confusion, and they both started to make their way towards the unusual scene that was in front of them.

"Um, Toothless?" asked Astrid, to which Toothless turned around, and looked at her, "Why is Marko just lying there on the ground." But before Toothless could at least try to tell her the reason, there was a large gasp of breath, and they both saw that Marko had his eyes open again, looking around at the girl and the Dragon looking over him. He quickly pulled himself up to his elbows, looked at Astrid, before saying, in his usual voice, "Yes? Can I help you?" Astrid, who now looked slightly taken aback, said, "Why were you lying on the ground, just then?" Marko looked at the ground for a few seconds, thinking, before looking back at Astrid, before saying, "Well, it's not every day that you find out the your rare Dragon becomes mates and he's the father," he finished, pointing at Toothless, who quickly turned away, before muttering, "Yep, here it comes again..." and passing out again. Seriously, this was one WIERD kid...

Astrid looked at Toothless, then at Marko, and then back to Toothless, and then she said, "Toothless? Is he telling the truth? You and Ice are going to have a child?" Toothless looked at her, and tried to tell her, _"Well, maybe, maybe not,"_ and Astrid seemed to understand him. She smiled, before turning back to Marko. "Well, what are we going to do with him?" she asked. Toothless looked at Marko, and then at the sky: the sun had just about gone down, and night was setting it. Then Toothless had an idea: if Astrid could put Marko on him back, then he could bring him to Hiccup's house and put him there for the night.

Toothless tried to tell Astrid to put Marko on his back, but it to him a full five minutes to get the message through to Astrid. But when she understood him, she went over to pick Marko up, and with a slight difficulty, picked Marko up and put him on to Toothless' back, so that his legs were hanging off both of Toothless' sides, along with his arms, while his head rested on the back of Toothless' neck. Slowly, as to not make Marko fall off him, Toothless started to make his was to his rider's house, Astrid following beside them, in case Marko did fall off.

By the time they reached Hiccup's house, the torches around the village had been lit and darkness had covered the island like a great blanket. Astrid bid her goodbye to Toothless and made her way home. When she disappeared into the darkness, Toothless scratched on the door for a few minutes, before he heard Hiccup's voice, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, bud." After a few minutes wait, Hiccup opened the door and Toothless can trotting in, but when Hiccup closed the door, he noticed that Toothless was carrying Marko on his back. "Um, Tooth, why are you carrying Marko on your back?"

Toothless, not knowing how to explain him being a possible father to Hiccup, just shrugged and leaned against the nearest chair, and, after a few moments wait, Marko slid off his back and sat, awkwardly, on the chair, his left arm hanging over the chair's arm, and his head leaning to his right side. Hiccup, still a little confused about Marko being here, looked at Toothless, who had walked up to him and nudged his arm, looking up at Hiccup, before making his way up the stairs, and, with a final glance at Marko, Hiccupfollowed the Night Fury up the stairs, and into his awaiting bed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Marko woke up with a sudden gasp, before quickly pulling his upper body up, and looking around: he seemed to be in a house. On a closer inspection, he saw he was in the main room of a house: the floor in front of him was covered in a thick fur blanket, and there was another chair on the opposite side of the room, which looked like it was covered in an old fur coat of a wolf.

There was a creak of wood, and Marko flinched, turning his head violently to the side. He waited a few seconds, to see if there was any other movement in the house. After a few more seconds silence, Marko relaxed ever so slightly, and thought about what happened yesterday, to think of anything that might have led to him being where he was.

Suddenly, there was another, much louder creek of wood, which was followed by multiple other creaks. Marko couldn't see where the sound was coming from, as the only light was coming from under the front door. As the creaking came closer, Marko was getting desperate, he had to find a way out, or at least somewhere to hide until the sound was gone. In the low light, Marko looked around to find something to use as a weapon, and then he remembered: he still had his most important weapon left at his side.

He looked down at his left arm, and clenched his left fist, and the blade shot out and Marko relaxed his hand, lifted his left arm lower arm up to his head, and looked at the stainless blade: he had never stained his blade with anyone's blood before, but still, there was a first for everything...

As the creaking got closer still, Marko took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. As he felt he way to a corner that was just a few feet from where the sound was coming from. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. And there was silence. A cold, scary silence that could chill the spines of even the bravest men to the core. Then, Marko heard an oddly familiar sound: it was a low purring noise. Ice? No, it was low to be Ice. So that meant, was it...Toothless? Then, if it was Toothless, then wasn't this Hiccup's house?

Breathing a bit more calmly now, Marko clenched his fist again, and the blade retreated back into his arm. As he turned around, he came face to face with a pair of acid-green eyes...

"Ah, Toothless. Hiccup. Could you please explain to me, why I'm in your house?" asked Marko, and Toothless just looked at Hiccup, but Hiccup said, "Sorry, Marko, but I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to: all I know is that Toothless came in with you on his back, looking as though you had passed out." At this, Marko's eyes widened: he remembered what happened yesterday...

"Um, Toothless? Have you been able to tell Hiccup what you told me yesterday?" Marko asked, while looking at Hiccup, but he could tell that Toothless was looking at the floor. "Toothless, what's he talking about?" asked Hiccup, looking at Toothless. But Toothless was still looking at the ground, so Marko told Hiccup, "Toothless might be a father by the next spring. And his mate...is Ice." Hiccup was just standing there, too shocked to say anything. He looked back at Toothless, and tried to say something to him, but was still too shocked to say anything.

"So, is there anything going on in the village today?" asked Marko, trying to change the subject of the house. Hiccup had finally got over the shock, and faced Marko, saying, "Um, yeah, actually. There's the Fight of the Vikings." Marko raised both his eyebrows, and asked, "Tell me more?" Hiccup smiled, before telling him about all about the Fight of the Vikings, "Well, it's a collection of fights that take place over a two day period. It's basically two people fight until you either disarm them or they can't stand anymore. And, on the final day, the two fighters left fighting fight to the death and the one who lives is the winner, and you are awarded the legendary Sword of the Viking. It's the most powerful weapon of the island."

Marko was looking impressed. But he was still wondering something, "Um, where do you sign up for this Fight of the Warriors?" Hiccup chuckled, then said, "You don't sign up for it, you just show up. It's a Viking thing, you know." At this, Marko smiled, before saying, "When does this Fight begin?" "Around midday." Marko's smile became slightly bigger. "So, that gives me a couple of hours to prepare."

Hiccup looked at Marko, before saying, "You're not seriously considering being involved in this, are you?" Marko looked at him in confusing, before saying, "Why not? It's a chance to prove myself." Marko took a quick look at Toothless, who was still looking at the floor, then he said, "Could I borrow the key to the blacksmiths for a few hours Hiccup, just to get everything ready," Hiccup looked at him for a second, before reaching into his front pocket, and pulled out his key to the blacksmiths and handing it to Marko, who thanked him, and said he would give it back to him by the start of the Fight of the Warriors.

Hiccup looked down at Toothless, who had now looked up from the floor to meet Hiccup's eye, before he sighed and scratched his behind the ear, which caused him to purr quietly. "Bud, let me just tell one thing," he started, and Toothless prepared for the worst, "I'm very proud to you." Toothless perked his ears up in confusion. "Did you think I would be mad at you?" asked Hiccup, and Toothless looked at him, a look of sadness evident in his eyes. Hiccup sighed, then told Toothless, "Tooth, I would never be able to get mad at you. But, I'm just filled with...a sense of pride. And Toothless, I know you're going to be a good father." Toothless then smiled his signature toothless grin, before jumping up and knocking Hiccup down, and licking him into submission. Hiccup was laughing loudly, before asking Toothless, while still chuckling, "Come on, Tooth! Please, I don't need a bath yet!" Toothless finally stopped licking his rider, and Hiccup was able to get up.

They made their way through the door, and when they got out, they could already see a few Vikings making their way to the old dragon killing Arena: this is where the Fight of the Warriors takes place. Hiccup looked up at the sun: they still had a few hours at the most to get down to watch the first fight. Toothless went to find Ice, which he did surprisingly fast, as she did stick out like a sore thumb, as her white scales reflected the sun with ease. As Hiccup had nothing better to do, he started to make his way to the blacksmiths, to see what Marko needed his key for.

As he started the trek towards the smiths, he could hear the faint conversations coming from the other Vikings, things like 'I'm defiantly going to win the Fight' and 'It's a last man standing game, anything goes', before he finally made it to the blacksmiths. But when he got to the back door of the blacksmiths, he couldn't hear the usual grinding of weapons against the rolling stone, but what he COULD hear confused him...

He opened the back door of the blacksmiths as slowly and as quietly as he could, so as to not to cause the source of the sound to stop. As he stopped around a corner that led to the backroom, and he saw something that made him become very confused.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

There was Marko, sitting in the middle of the blacksmiths backroom, the desks being moved to the back of the room. With his back to where Hiccup was standing, and with his hood up, this made him look more sinister than he normally did. His head was bent over, and was looking at something that Hiccup couldn't see in the darkness, so he leaned a bit more to see it easier. But when he saw it, he regretted it almost instantly.

Laying on the floor of the blacksmiths, was a mask and a pair of swords, but there was something different to this mask and swords than what Hiccup was used to: the swords, which Hiccup had normally seen, were meant to be thick and heavy, these ones were long, thin, and they looked rather light. And they had what seemed to look like blood covering the ends. But the mask was the worst out of all of the things that lay in front of Marko.

The mask, from what Hiccup could see, was shaped to fit around Marko's, and only Marko's, face. And it seemed to be made of a black metal, though Hiccup couldn't tell, as the lack of light prevented him from seeing it properly. But from what he could see, there was two holes where his eyes were and third, smaller and thinner hole where his mouth was. There was a small sigh, which caused Hiccup to jump, but then he remembered that it was just Marko. He continued to watch him, and by which time Marko had picked up the mask, and was now placing it between the fabrics that made up his hoodie.

A nail rolled off the table that was near Hiccup, and made a loud **thump** as it hit the floor, which caused Hiccup's breath to catch in his throat, just as Marko turned his head to the left ever so slightly. "Who's there?" Marko asked in the icy voice that he used when he pulled down his hoodie in front of the other teens for the first time. Hiccup didn't make a sound, but Marko still started to stand up and when he reach his full high, he turned around to where the sound had come from, which was from the same direction Hiccup was in.

"I said, 'is there anyone there?'" asked Marko again, in the same, icy, dagger-like tone, but still Hiccup didn't answer, for he was still trying to get the breath that was lodged in his throat. After receiving no reply, Marko started to slowly, step by step, walk toward Hiccup, who by now had started to back away slowly; trying not to make anymore sounds that may cost him is life.

With reactions that Hiccup didn't know that he had, Marko was right in front of him in the split second he had blinked, which caused him to yelp in shock and fall down, causing him to knock some clumps of wood that were laying there on the table, and they went flying partway across the room, and by the time they had hit the floor, Marko was looking down at Hiccup, an amused look on his face. "Hiccup? Is that you?" Still a little nervous, Hiccup nodded, and then tried to get up, and after a few minutes struggle, Marko stuck his hand up, offering to help Hiccup.

After being settled up straight, Hiccup tried to look at Marko, but had more difficulty than usual, mostly because of the mask blocking from view. Seeing that Hiccup was wondering about the mask, Marko chuckled, which sounded much deeper than usual, and then said, "I take it you want to know about the mask?" he asked, but in a slightly less icy tone than before. Again, Hiccup nodded, before Marko

Reached up his hands to his face, his left hand under his chin, and his right hand just above his head, and slowly, pulled his mask off from his face, revealing his face again, and caused Hiccup to let out a relieved sigh, knowing that he wasn't going to kill him now.

Placing the mask on the table, Marko, facing away from the table, pulled himself up onto the table by his arms, taking a seat on the table. "It's the last thing that I have to remind me of my father." Explained Marko and Hiccup looked at the mask, and was then temporarily blinded by the light when Marko opened the back door, letting the light in, and to see that a lot more Vikings had started to make their way to the old Dragon Killing Arena.

"I got this from my aunt on my 10th birthday, and it was the only thing that they could find that was connected to my father's past...and my future..." Marko stopped suddenly, as though he wasn't meant to say something. Hiccup, now curious, asked, "What do you mean, 'your future'?" Marko didn't answer, but instead, picked up the swords, sliding them into sheath that were attached to leather straps on his back, and picked up the mask, and then put it back on, and a sense of eeriness coming along with it.

"Come on, it's almost midnight, we'll be late," replied Marko, ignoring Hiccup's question all together, and walked through the door frame, leaving Hiccup just standing there inside the blacksmiths, but he stopped, still within at least ten feet of the blacksmiths, turned around, and threw something at Hiccup, who were just able to catch in, and then he looked in his hand, and he chuckled lightly: it was the blacksmiths key.

"I'll see you there, Hiccup. I bet your father will be there, taking part," said Marko, and without a second glance, turned around and started to join the gathering crowd outside the Dragon Arena. Hiccup lost sight of him when he made his way between two Vikings, and after a few more minutes trying to find him again, he gave up and started to make his towards the top of the Dragon Arena, so he could watch: he didn't fancy getting another limb chopped off. And that was even if he made it through to first round...

As he tried to get a good view at the front, he noticed that his father wasn't at his normal seat at the front of the Arena: knowing his father, he would be taking part in the Fight's. His father had won the Fight of the Warriors the past ten years running: but now there was a newcomer, did Marko stand a chance? His thoughts were cut short as the other Vikings who didn't fancy getting any limbs hacked off either, roared as the other Vikings that were taking part in the contest, came out to the roars of the crowd and were shouting threats at random Vikings that were taking part. But strangely, Marko, who was receiving more threats than the other Vikings, wasn't looking at them, but was fitting the mask back onto his face, while other Vikings were mocking it, and him.

"You all know the rules!" shouted Stoic, who was standing in the middle of the Vikings in the Dragon Arena, and the roars of the crowd were silenced almost immediately. "You each get a choice of two weapons, and you fight until your opponent can't stand or they give up!" He was talking more to the Fighters than to the viewers. But at these words, Marko reached with both of his hands over his shoulders, and pulled out the two thin swords that he had. And all around him, all the other Vikings were handling their weapons, throwing dirty looks at one another.

"And now, the fights begin!" bellowed Stoic, and picked up his chosen hammer, and the crowd

Screamed and shouted louder than before. Within the Arena, weapons were being prepared and people were being chosen as targets, and soon, no sound filled the Arena expect the sound of weapons clanging together, and the shouts of people from around the Arena. As Hiccup's eyes swept across the Arena, he saw Marko, and he seemed to be fighting two Vikings off at once, and he seemed to be winning: one of them already had a bleeding arm and had dropped his weapon in his left hand, an axe, so he could try to stop the bleeding, and with a final blow of Marko's sword to his stomach, he fell, and two other Vikings came out from the entrance and, trying to avoid getting injured themselves, they dragged the fallen Viking out of harm's way.

Hiccup then turned to look at his father, who was winning every fight that he fought, judging by the bodies that were collecting around him. They will still breathing, from what Hiccup could see, though. They were now down to just fourteen people left in the Arena: Marko and Stoic included. And after another few minutes, there were only four people left: Stoic, Marko, and two other Vikings Hiccup didn't know the names of. Stoic, who had a cut under his left eye, was fighting a Viking that was carrying an axe and a shield, but one careful blow to the stomach later, and it was only Marko, who hadn't even got scratched, against a Viking who had a long cut running the length of his lower right arm, and he was carrying a spear, but he did look rather pale.

Marko spun the sword in his right hand around, and they both began to circle each other, listening to the jeers of the crowd. Marko looked the other Viking in the eye, and he the one thing that made him smile...fear. Marko started to advance on the Viking, who started to back away, swinging the spear wildly at Marko, who was always just out of reach from the sharpened tip. But when the Viking swung the spear a couple of times later, Marko dodged the tip and, with a powerful blow of the left hand sword, the sharpened tip and about another foot of wooden handle come off, and the Viking fell, but when he tried to get up, Marko stepped over him, and crossed the swords over his neck.

The crowd cheered wildly at the final two men standing and Stoic and Marko walked up to each other, nodded in a greeting sort of way and Stoic walked to the centre of the ring, and the crowd fell silent once again. "Well, there you go! We have our two Champions! Me and Marko!" The crowd cheered so much that Hiccup had to cover his ears for a bit. When he let go of them again, Stoic was going on about when the next and final fight would take place "...and the winner will get this! The Sword of the Viking!" And as he finished, two strong looking Vikings carried into the Arena a large, wooden crate.

As they slowly opened the lid of the crate, and blinding glow came out of the gap of the crate, and when it was fully opened, some of the crowd had their mouths hung open in envy: The blade was made of the shiniest steel that Hiccup had ever seen, and the handle seemed to be imbedded with real gold, and on the end of the handle, there was what appeared to be a small, metal Viking helmet, protecting the owners hand. And it also looked as though there were two, golden dagger ends coming out the end of the handle. Both Marko and Stoic were looking at it with longing: every time someone won the Sword, they had to give it back every time the Fight's came back on.

When they closed the lid again, and it was carried out again, Stoic finished off his speech, "Well, I hope to see you all tomorrow!" And with that, the Vikings started to disperse to do their daily jobs around the village. But Hiccup made his way towards the entrance of the Arena to wait for both his father and

Marko. His father came out first: the cut under his eye was still bleeding lightly, but all in all, he looked okay. His father saw him, chuckled lightly, and then walked up to him, and said, "So, you'll be hoping your old man wins the Sword, again?" Hiccup didn't answer immediately: he didn't want Stoic or Marko to die. When he noticed that his father was waiting for an answer, he quickly answered, "Um, yeah, yeah, I'll be cheering you on...as usual." His father smiled proudly, before walking off to do stuff that he needed.

Hiccup turned around to come face to face with Marko's mask, which caused him to jump slightly. Marko chuckled before taking it off completely, before looking at Hiccup, saying, "You're not still scared of this thing, are you?" He lifted the mask up, and now Hiccup could now see it easier: it was the same colour as his hair: jet black. It was also covered in a thin layer of crimson coloured liquid the Hiccup strongly thought was blood. It also had a thin line going through where the nose should be on the mask.

"Hiccup, I'm going to need the use of the blacksmiths again tonight." Hiccup nodded and handed him the blacksmiths key and Marko placed it in a pocket in his trousers. "Now, if you don't mind me, I'm going to go to the Great Hall." Hiccup nodded before saying, "You know what, I think I'll join you." And with that, the two friends started to make their way towards the Great Hall.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

As they reached the front doors of the Great Hall, they were greeted by the warmth and friendly of the other Vikings. When they entered the Great Hall, they saw the teens had collected together on one table: Fishlegs, looking through the Book of Dragons, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, arguing as usual, Snotlout, trying in impress some girl on the other side of the hall, and Astrid, who was beckoning Hiccup and Marko to join them at the table.

When they reached their table, Hiccup sat next to Astrid, and Marko sat opposite Hiccup, next to Snotlout. As they both sat down, silence fell between the teens. After noticing that there wasn't any food on the table, Marko started to stand up, and said, "I'm just going to get some food. Chicken wings, anyone?" And when he got the orders, he left their table and went to the food table.

When he was out of earshot, Snotlout sat up properly, and said to Hiccup, "So, what's Marko like, normally?" And every eye was on their table was on Hiccup. Sighing, Hiccup said, "He's just...normal. He's not anything special." Snotlout chuckled, and said, "You can't be serious? Did you see what he was wearing on his face at the Fights?" Hiccup looked up at Snotlout, and probable the first time in his life, he was angry against Snotlout. "That mask is the only thing that he has left of his father," said Hiccup, with just a little hint of anger evident in his voice. "What do you mean, 'only thing he has left'?" asked Snotlout, unaware there was a figure standing behind him.

"He means that my father is dead and that mask used to belong to him," said an icy voice that came from behind Snotlout, who let out a scream of fright, and caused the other teens to laugh loudly, and that received a fair few glances from other Vikings. When the laughter died down, Marko put down a plate of chicken legs in front of the teens, sat down next to Snotlous (who was looking annoyed), grabbed one of the chicken legs and started to take bites out of the flesh.

"So," started Marko, who still had his mouth partly full of food, "why were you guys so shocked when

You found out that I was part of the White Fury Tribe?" The teens looked at each other, silently trying to make one another tell him why. Finally, Astrid spoke up, "Um, we were all told stories when we were young about the White Fury Tribe. But we were told that they weren't real." Marko just looked at her oddly. "What made you think that a tribe would be made up?" It was Hiccups turn to answer, "Well, it sounds like you named your tribe after a Dragon, the White Fury, but there's nothing in the Book of Dragons about White Furies."

Shaking his head, Marko threw another chicken leg over his shoulder and grabbed another one, before asking the teens, "Do you lot know the legend of _Komator_? He's quite legendary in Molak." And after seeing the teens confused expressions, he said, "OK, I take it you don't, well let me tell you. The legend goes that the Dragons and Vikings were over a thousand years into the War. But there was this man who was...unique, in a way: his name was _Komator_, and he was out looking for a dragon the he just shot down. But when he found the dragon, he discovered that he couldn't kill it. So, he set it free."

As Marko continued, Hiccup found that his story was similar to that of Marko's: how he had found Toothless and couldn't kill him. When he found that Marko was continuing, Hiccup stopped thinking about it and listened again. "...So, after realising that the dragon wasn't going to stop following him, _Komator _decided to name the dragon and take care of it. Then a day came when he was followed to where he and the dragon met up. But after convincing his father and the village, _Komator_ was allowed to keep the dragon: you see, even we didn't trust dragons back then. But after the _Komator _incident, the Viking kind was split in two: you're kind, who still went on to kill dragons, and my kind, who became friends with the dragons."

The teens were speechless, so Marko helped himself to one last chicken leg and left before Fishlegs could start bombarding him with question again. "Where's he going?" Astrid asked Hiccup, as the rest of the teens started to come out of their shock and made a start on the rest of the chicken , Hiccup, along with Astrid, got up from the table and made their way to follow Marko out of the Great Hall. When they closed the doors from the outside, they saw, in the growing darkness, Marko on his way towards the Dragon Arena, and they made their way after him. Then the heard a rattle of chains and a loud thud, which told Hiccup and Astrid that Marko had opened and closed the metal door to the Arena.

Using the natural shadows and shadows made by the ceiling over the entrance of the Arena as cover, Hiccup and Astrid cautiously made their way to get a better view of what the heck Marko was doing inside the Arena. But they were unable to see Marko, as it had now had become just too dark for them to see properly. So, with a little nod from Astrid, Hiccup pulled down a lever, which opened the door

Very slowly. When it was opened as high as it would go, they slowly walked, and limped, into the Arena, but there was one small problem: Marko wasn't anywhere in sight. Looking at each other, Hiccup and Astrid spilt up and searched the door's that once held five of the dragon species: Astrid checked the old Monstrous Nightmare's, Nadder's and the Gronkle's old cages, but there was nothing there.

Hiccup had already checked the old Zippleback's cage, and was just about to check the Terrible Terror's one, when he heard a noise coming from the other side of the Arena: (Cough). This made both Astrid and Hiccup jump and turn around, and they saw the person they came looking for in the first place: Marko. He was leaning up against the wall; arms folded, and with what appeared to be a smirk hidden underneath the shadows. "I take it that you're looking for me?" he asked, to which he received nods from both of them. After that was sorted, Marko stopped leaning on the wall and started to walk towards them, but there was something about the way he walked that made Hiccup confused: normally, he walked with pride, but at the same time, he was relaxed. Now, however, he was tilting his head to the side every few steps, as though keeping a look out in case someone came into the Arena.

When he reached them, he spoke in a quiet tone that didn't suit Marko that much, "Did you come alone?" Hiccup and Astrid both looked at each other, before looking back to Marko and nodding. After Marko released a sigh, Hiccup saw something that worried him: Marko was clutching his right forearm with his left hand, as though he was in pain. "Can you two keep a secret?" asked Marko, in the same, quiet tone. Astrid looked at Hiccup, unsure what to do. "Please, you're the only two that I trust enough to tell on this island. Please?" Hiccup looked at Astrid, who still looked unsure of what to do, but Hiccup turned around and said, "Yes, you can trust us."

Taking a deep breath, Marko slowly rolled up his right sleeve until it was up to his elbow, and removed his left hand from his right arm, and looked at Hiccup's and Astrid's reaction. From his wrist down to his fingertips, pale human skin. His wrist and up to his elbow, however, instead of human skin, was covered in what looked like Toothless' scales: midnight black scales, the start of every new one covering half of the previous one. Meeting Hiccup's eye, he explained, "I've had this since I was young. No one on Molak could think of a reason why I had this," he gestured at his right arm, "Anyway, all they knew was that they were the scales of a Night Fury. But there wasn't any Night Furies in the region the covered Molak. So, they just thought it was some kind of White Fury scale rash, as they had seen something like this on the White Furies, and it turned their scales from white to black. So, they tried to keep Ice away from me for a few days, thinking that she had somehow managed to do this. But no matter how hard they tried, Ice always managed to get back with me. I told you before: she never left my side." He paused for a minute, "That is, until we crashed on Berk."

Hiccup was confused as to why Marko added that last part so bitterly, but then he remembered: Ice was always with Toothless whenever he saw her. But surely, Ice hadn't forgotten about Marko, right? Marko looked up again, but when he turned his head to the side, his eyes widened and quickly looked at Hiccup, before saying very quickly, "Where's that girlfriend of yours?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Hiccup was confused, "Who, Astrid? She's right her..." he stopped when he realised that the blonde girl was next to him wasn't there anymore. Eyes widened in shock, Hiccup watched as Marko ran towards the entrance of the Arena, and was shouting, "WHERE ARE YOU, ASTRID!" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Hiccup slowly started a jog after his two friends. Since it was dark, Hiccup had to rely on his hearing to locate his friends.

But after a few minutes, Marko's shouting stopped, which caused Hiccup's jogging to slow into a slow walk. He looked around, hoping by some miracle that he was able to see them, even though he knew that it was near impossible. And after a couple of minutes looking around, Hiccup heard a high pitched spitting sound and a light _**thud **_someway off to his right. Expecting the worst, Hiccup slowly walked towards the source of the sound. But after about ten feet, Hiccup bumped into something that caused him to fall down on the ground.

When he looked up, he saw that he had bumped into Marko: the darkness making him look even more sinister looking than when he had the mask on. Releasing a sigh that he didn't know he was holding, Hiccup carefully stood up and looked at Marko, and asked, "Where's Astrid?" Marko had no emotion shown on his face, but turned his head to the side and Hiccup saw a dark lump: it was Astrid. "Astrid!"Shouted Hiccup, and ran up to his girlfriend: Marko still hadn't moved. Hiccup pressed his first and middle finger against Astrid's neck, and to his relief, she still had a heartbeat: she was still alive.

With a fury in his eyes, Hiccup looked up to Marko and hissed, "What did you do to her?" Still wearing a blank face, Marko kneeled down to eye level with Hiccup, and said, "I hit her with a poison that makes people forget things within a short period of time: it was the only way to stop her from telling everyone for what I truly am." Hiccup grit his teeth in anger, and asked, "And what is that?"

Marko looked Hiccup in the eye, and Hiccup could have sworn that he saw his icy blue eyes flash a blood red colour momentarily, and Marko replied, in a dragon-like growl, "I am a **monster.**" When he said 'monster', it came out, not in him normal tone, but in a demented growl, which caused Hiccup to jump up suddenly and went to grab his dagger. But when he managed to get his dagger out, Marko hit the dagger with a back handed swing, knocking it out of his hand and it landed a fair distance away. Hiccup, breathing deeply, turned back to Marko, and saw something that scared him to his core: he was right, because Marko eyes HAD indeed turned to two blood red orbs that looked as though they were looked into your soul...

Slowly, Marko started to advance on Hiccup, who was shaking slightly, but after a few steps Marko's body went rigid and he seemed to be arguing with himself, and he was talking in his normal voice, and muttered, "No, not this time...I have more control over you..." After about five minutes of this, Hiccup saw that Marko's eyes slowly started to dissolve back to the original ice blue, and Marko collapsed to his knees, started to breathe deeply and was looking at the ground, trying to not meet Hiccup's eye.

After a few minutes, Marko's breathing slowed and he stood up, still not looking at Hiccup, and picked Astrid up into a fire-mans carrying, her upper body hanging behind him and her legs in front of him. "Come on," started Marko, not turning to Hiccup, "we have to get her to her house before we're seen." Without a second glance, he started to walk in the direction towards Astrid's house, with Hiccup

Following. Hiccup was silent the whole journey to Astrid's house. He only spoke when they were walking back from Astrid's house, where Hiccup had slowly opened the door and kept a look out for Astrid's parents while Marko laid Astrid on her bed. Things got a bit hectic near the end: Hiccup came rushing up into Astrid's room, whispering that Astrid's parents had just come out of the Great Hall and they had made a narrow escape through the back window just as Astrid's parents opened the front door of their house.

"So, what happened back there?" asked Hiccup tenderly, thinking that Marko was a bit touchy of the subject. Marko shook his head in response, muttered, "I don't want to talk about it," and they continued to walk towards Hiccup's house, both of them silent all the way.

When they got to Hiccup's house, Hiccup turned around to speak to Marko, but was met with empty space: Marko wasn't there anymore. Shaking his head to try and clear it, Hiccup wearily turned o face the door and opened it. When he closed the door, he was met with the sight of his drunken father, passed out on the chair. The scar he had gotten earlier from the Fights had been cleaned, but it was still clearly visible. Shaking his head feebly, started to make his way up the stairs towards his bedroom.

When he entered his room, his eyes fell upon a great black object that was curled up next to his bed: it was Toothless. Upon hearing his rider enter, Toothless perked his head up and crooned softly at him. Smiling tiredly, Hiccup walked up to the Night Fury and scratched the spot under his chin that caused Toothless to purr lovingly at his rider. "Night, Tooth," muttered Hiccup, to which Toothless snorted tiredly at Hiccup and curled back up into a great, black ball beside Hiccups bed.

Following his dragons example, Hiccup yawned and made his way to his bed, not bothering to take off his prophetic leg and vest. Rubbing his eyes, Hiccup sat on his bed, then pulled his legs onto the bed and lied down, completely exhausted, and lay there until sleep took its hold on him...

* * *

><p><strong>Ok, so thats Chapter 10. Sorry it took a while for me to upload, but it was because I had writers block. Anyway, when I've finished this story, I gonna be writing a sequel to it and I'm stuck for names. So, if you could leave some ideas for names in your reviews, I might be using one of them for the title of the new story. <strong>

**All I know about the sequel is that Hiccup, Marko and some new faces will be in it and it will still be How to Train your Dragon, so I would like HTTYD theme names. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Marko was right: when Hiccup saw Astrid the next morning, when she walked up to him, she didn't ask him any questions Marko or made any signs that she remembered anything about last night, so that meant that Marko's poison must of worked. "Hey, Hiccup," she said, walking to his side and smiling, "You ready to see who's going to win between Marko and your father today?"

Hiccup sighed: he had been dreaded the fight between his friend and his father ever since he had seen them still awake after the first fights. Seeing that Astrid was waiting for an answer, he quickly said, "Uh, yeah, yeah, looking forward to it..." With a smile, Astrid walked away to see to something else, which left Hiccup alone. He then felt a sudden pressure on his right shoulder, causing Hiccup to yelp and turn around, to the sight of an amused looking Marko, thankfully without his mask.

"Still scaring you am I?" he asked, which caused Hiccup to shake his head rather unbelievably. Marko chuckled, before leaning in, and muttering, "Hiccup, can you meet me at the highest cliff on Berk around Midday?" Hiccup was slightly confused, but he nodded and said, "Sure. Me and Tooth will be there." Marko let out one of him rare smiles, before saying, "Well, I guess it will have to be a short flight: I got a fight to deal with at mid afternoon." With a final nod goodbye, Marko turned and walked away, and Hiccup made his way to find Toothless.

After a fifteen minute walk, Hiccup finally managed to find Toothless; he was next to Ice at the Dragon's Fish Bowl at the centre of the village. "Hey, Tooth?" Hiccup called, and Toothless looked up at him, then he trotted up to Hiccup, and rubbed up against his rider, purring lowly. "You want to meet up with Marko up at Eagle's Peak?" At the name of 'Marko' Ice perked her ear flaps up and trotted next to Toothless, who was making a face that plainly said, _'Do you really need to ask me?'_ Hiccup chuckled, and then looked at Ice, and asked, "Do you want to come as well Ice?" To this, Ice nodded. Chuckled, Hiccup said, "Alright, we'll get going. Stay here, Tooth, I just need to get your tailfin and saddle." And with that, Hiccup limped towards the blacksmiths, leaving Toothless and Ice. Ice turned to Toothless, and asked, _"Do you have any idea what my rider's trying to do this time?" _ Toothless chuckled, and replied, _"I have about as much a clue as you do." _

After another few minutes of silence, Hiccup returned with Toothless' fake tailfin and saddle. And after another couple of minutes of adjusting the harness, Hiccup and the two Dragons were up in the air high above Berk. After about a ten minute flight, Hiccup could see Marko as a small figure on the highest point in Berk: Eagle Peak. It's about a good two thousand feet above the sea, making it good for a bit of freefalling. After a careful landing, Hiccup climbed off Toothless and limped towards Marko, who seemed to be doing some final touches to a rather strange looking device: it LOOKED like a Dragon, but it was made out of leather and wood. It was also missing the Dragon's head and feet, and it had a strange U-shaped piece of wood hanging underneath it; it looked big enough to carry one person underneath it...

Marko turned around, and said, "Ah, good, Hiccup you made it. I see you brought Shadow Fly and Ice with you as well." Hiccup nodded, before he continued to look at the strange...thing that was behind Marko. Following Hiccup's gaze, Marko looked at the leather Dragon behind him, and laughed lightly, and then turned around to face Hiccup and the dragons again, and said, "This is one of my own designs: I call it a hang glider. I've been working on the idea for a couple of months before I crashed on Berk, but here, I've finally been able to create it." After explaining that, Marko turned round and ducked under one of the hang gliders wings and grabbed onto the U-shaped wood underneath the hang glider. He turned back to Hiccup, who had a look that said 'are you sure about this?'

Marko sighed, and said, "Don't worry, Hiccup. The reason I asked you to come up here was that if something went wrong, you and Toothless could catch me." He then turned to Ice, and added, "But since you brought Ice along with you, you can just watch and Ice could catch me." And with that, Marko slowly started to stand up, the weight of the hang glider evidently adding to his struggle.

He muttered to himself, "Need to work on the weight of this thing," before he started to run, ignoring the worried looks on all three of the people and dragons watching him, and after a couple more steps, he feet left the ground, and he started to fall below the sight of Hiccup, Toothless and Ice. Panicking, the three ran towards the edge of the cliff, Ice was even spreading out her wings, ready for flight, and then Marko came back into view: He was flying! Breathing a sigh of relief, Hiccup mounted Toothless again, locked his prosthetic leg in place, and He, Toothless, and Ice shot into the air, and soon levelled with Marko, who was whooping with joy, shouting, "YEAH! IT WORKED!"

After a couple more minutes of shouting, Marko fell silent and the four of them stared in amazement of the view they had of Berk from this height: they could see the whole village from up here. Marko took a deep breath, and sighed. Hiccup copied him: All was calm. That was until Hiccup looked at the sun: it had just past the midday point. Marko was going to miss his fight! "Hey, Marko!" shouted Hiccup over the roar of the wind, and Marko turned to face Hiccup, "You're going to be late for the fights!" Marko eyes widened, but Hiccup noticed immediately that Marko wasn't looking at him, but at something behind him. Curious, Hiccup turned his head around, and was met with a sight that made his heart skip a beat.

Behind him and Toothless, were two White Furies: one had forest green eyes that were similar to Hiccup's, and the other one had two foggy grey orbs that stared straight into Hiccup's eyes, and it scared him: it looked as though the dragon was looking right through him. He then noticed that the White Furies both had rider on them.

Hiccup turned around to tell Marko about this, but Marko wasn't in front of him: he was angled towards the ground and was racing towards it at a blinding speed, Ice racing behind him. Deciding that it was probably the best idea, Hiccup clicked Toothless' tailfin into the diving position and followed Marko and Ice. Hiccup turned back to see if the two strangers were following them, and they were, and they seemed to be calling out over the howling winds, "Marko...Marko, wait...Marko..." Hiccup turned back to face the chasers: did they want both of them dead or did they just want Marko dead?

"Hey, Marko! Do you know who they are?" Hiccup shouted over the wind, but Marko wasn't in front of him: he had dropped from his hand glider and was currently flying on Ice, and they had just now reach sea level, so Ice's and Toothless' wings just skimmed the water's surface. Marko turned around to face the pursuers, who were still following them. "WHAT IS IT! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" shouted Marko as loud as he was able to, but when he was facing them, his eyes widened, and he mouthed, _"Impossible..." _

He turned Ice sharply towards the island, and Hiccup and Toothless followed, as did their pursuers. After landing, Marko jumped off Ice's back and pulled out a short sword, about the length of his lower leg, and pointed it at the pursuers. "Who are you?" he asked fiercely, but the two riders and their dragons held their ground, and looked at each other. "Marko," one of them started, and it had the voice of a male, "don't you remember us? Fradokos?" 'Fradokos' said, pointing to himself, "Rachel?" he pointed at the person standing next to him, who just about reached his shoulder. Marko lowered his sword ever so slightly, but soon put his arm back to being straight, and said, "What kind of trickery is this? You take the image of my dead friends! You don't deserve to live." Marko started to advance on Fradokos and Rachel, who still weren't moving.

"_Your father wouldn't want you to do this, would he, White Shadow?" _asked Fradokos in Dragonese, and this caused Marko to stop in his tracks. He was taking rather deep breaths, and his arm with the dagger started to shake violently. Marko then spoke in a shaky tone, "Fradokos? Rachel? Is it really you?" To this, the two figures smiled and nodded. Marko then dropped the dagger and ran up to Fradokos and Rachel, and hugged them both, taking deeper, shaky breaths. "I-I-I-I can't believe you're here. Is there anyone else?" he asked, looking up with hope in his eyes. Fradokos and Rachel looked at each other, and while they were talking, Hiccup was staring at what they looked like.

The one that was called Fradokos was about an inch or two taller than Marko, but there was something in his eyes that showed Hiccup that he was a kind soul. And there was something familiar about his eyes: they were similar to Hiccup's, though a few shades darker. He was wearing a blood red bandana around his forehead, and he was wearing a white version of Hiccup's fur vest, but he wore no clothing underneath it, which showed his six pack stomach and muscular arms. Rachel, on the other hand, looked more like Marko, but with some differences: first of all, she was a female, secondly, Rachel didn't have sleeves, but she was wearing a pair of fingerless, black gloves. She was also wearing a white piece of fabric that covered her face, just like Marko's.

When the three reunited friends stopped talking, Hiccup and Toothless came forward, only to be stopped by the Fradokos and Rachel's White Furies, who both growled fiercely. "White Light! Cloud!" The dragons perked up at their names, _"there my friends," _said Marko in Dragonese, looking between the two Dragons. Even though they still had a hint of doubt in their eyes, Cloud and White Light stopped growling and returned to their riders. With a single nod, Marko said, "These two," pointing at Fradokos and Rachel, "were my friends when I lived on Molak. There names of Fradokos," Fradokos lifted left fist to his chest, and bowed, "and Rachel," Rachel gave a nod towards Toothless and Hiccup. "And these," said Marko, pointing at Hiccup and Toothless, "are the people that helped me when I crashed on Berk, Hiccup and Toothless." Both nodded in a greeting sort of way.

"Wait, did you say Frad-oko and Rachel are from Molak?" asked Hiccup, unsure of how to pronounce Fradokos. "OK, firstly, it's pronounced 'Fra-do-kos, and secondly, yes, but I don't want them to talk about it just yet" replied Marko, and Fradokos and Rachel looked at each other. "Well, what are we waiting for? I've got a fight to go to" said Marko, and started to walk towards the village, while Fradokos and Rachel were looking at Hiccup, shocked. "What does he mean by 'a fight to go to'?" asked Fradokos, and Hiccup sighed and made a 'follow me' gesture with a hand, and the four humans and their dragons made their way to the Arena.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute," said Marko, "you just get good seats; you won't want to miss it!" And with that, Marko ran towards the blacksmiths, where Hiccup knew Marko kept his swords and mask. "Where's he going?" asked Fradokos, pointing at Marko, who had just gone through the back door of the blacksmiths. "Oh, he's just getting his swords and his mask that his father left him," explained Hiccup. "Wait," said Rachel, stopping in her tracks, "The mask his father left him?" Hiccup nodded, "The mask _Dalamanto_ left him?" Hiccup made a confused face, "That's his father's name" explained Rachel, and Hiccup's expression cleared. "Wait," continued Rachel, turning to Fradokos, "the last thing Marko has of his father, plus a fight that could break something, means..." Both Fradokos and Rachel's eyes widened, "Black Ash!" they both said in unison.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

"What do you mean, 'Black Ash'?" asked Hiccup, but Fradokos and Rachel weren't listening: Fradokos had ran into the village, trying to find Marko amongst the crowd of Vikings that were heading towards the Arena, and Rachel had jumped onto her dragon, which Hiccup remembered was called Cloud, and was currently looking for Marko from the air.

Deciding that he should probably leave it to the professionals, Hiccup shrugged and made his way towards the Arena, with Ice and Toothless following him, grunting and growling at each other, but he could still hear Fradokos and Rachel calling out for Marko. When he reached the Arena, there was already a good crowd there, either chatting to themselves or looking at the entrance of the Arena, waiting for Marko, as Hiccup could see, his father was: he was looking at the entrance, an annoyed look playing across his face, and his great fingers flexing around the handle of the hammer.

Suddenly, the crowd roared, and Hiccup looked at the entrance, and he saw Marko, carrying his swords on his back and his father's mask in his right hand. Fradokos and Rachel were on each side of him, trying to talk him out of the fight. "...Marko, don't to this! We don't want him getting out again!" said Rachel, but she seemed to be fighting a losing battle, because Marko wasn't listening. He just sighed and said, "I know how to control him now, so you don't have to worry," and with that, placed his mask over his face and walked into the Arena, and the door closed, sealing Marko and Stoic in, and Fradokos and Rachel out.

Curious about what they were on about, Hiccup looked to make sure no one was watching, but they were too busy watching the fight that just started, Hiccup slowly made his way between several Vikings and towards the entrance of the Arena. But when he heard the crowd shout out a low 'ooh!' Hiccup stopped and turned around to see what happened: it seemed that Stoic went to hit Marko's face, but Marko dodged out of the way, and the edge of his swords sliced into his father's left arm, judging by the large cut running the length of his upper arm.

Whimpering quietly, Hiccup continued towards the entrance, and after about five minutes, the entrance, along with Fradokos and Rachel, came into view, and he slowly walked up to them, as they looked tense and worried. Hiccup cleared his throat, causing both of them to jump and look at him. "Why are you so worried about Marko? He's going to be fine," said Hiccup, but Fradokos and Rachel weren't convinced. "You don't know what's inside him" said Fradokos, pointing a finger at Hiccup aggressively, "he is the reason why Molak is dead!"

Rachel stood in between the two, facing Fradokos, and said, "You can't blame Marko, it wasn't his fault! You know he can't completely control what's inside of him!" she shouted into his face, but Fradokos stood his ground. A great groan came from the crowd above, and the three of them ran up to the door and looked through, and they were met by a horrific scene: there was blood everywhere, covering the floor in great pools, Marko seemed to have taken a hit to the arm, since he had dropped his right hand sword and it was hanging uselessly, and Stoic had a black eye and a broken nose, but both of them were still putting up a good fight.

"We got to get him out!" said Rachel at last, and reached for the lever, but Hiccup stood between her and the lever, and said, "No! You can get him out when the fight's over!" Fradokos turned around, grabbed Hiccup's vest, and pushed him against the wall, and said viciously, "If what we think is going to happen happens, then the fight will be the least of your worries!" Then, a cheer came from the crowd, and once again, the three of them were looking through the door, and what they saw chilled them: Stoic seemed to have hit Marko with an upwards thrust to the face, causing his father's mask to fly off, over towards them, and when it hit the ground, the mask split diagonally in half, sending half of it within reach of Hiccup and Marko's friends, and the other half flying back to Marko.

"That's it, I'm getting him out!" said Fradokos, reaching for the lever, but this time, Hiccup didn't stop him, because he was watching Marko, who wasn't the same as he always was: instead of his normal icy blue eyes looking at Hiccup, a pair of blood red ones were looking at Hiccup, who was backing away from the door. When the door was high enough, Fradokos and Rachel ran out and stood in front of Marko, who had thrown Stoic off of him and into a wall, knocking him out. "Marko, Marko, calm down," said Fradokos, as Marko stood up, but he was standing with more of a hunch, not his normal stance.

Marko turned to face Fradokos, and spoke in a deep, demented voice, **"Do you really expect me to listen to you, who helped imprison me again!"** But unlike Hiccup, who was backing away, Fradokos stood his ground. "It was for the good of Molak, Black Ash, even after what you did to it!" Fradokos shouted back, pulling out a long, thick sword from its sheath. Marko, or 'Black Ash', chuckled darkly, and even more deeply than when he had the mask on and slowly pulled out a small dagger from its sheath from his right leg and slowly twisting it around so that the blade faced the ground, and said, **"In that ****case, bring it on then, Pure of Heart!"** And with that, he raised the dagger and went to stab Fradokos, who was just able to go into blocking stance, but Marko stopped just before the dagger touched Fradokos. **"What's going on?" **questioned Marko/Black Ash, and to Hiccup's disbelieve, Marko's right eye turned from blood red, back to the original icy blue. And he started to speak in his normal voice, "NO! I'm not letting this happen again, Black Ash!" shouted Marko's side, but Black Ash's side chuckled darkly, and said, **"You can't control me like you used to, Marko!" **But as soon as the words left him, he dropped the dagger and looked at his hands, and then started to scream, a scream that would make the blood of even the bravest Vikings go cold.

Hiccup watched in disbelieve as Marko/Black Ash screamed, their hands scrunching up into fists, and, Hiccup thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, there appeared to be two people standing where Marko was: one, wearing a white piece of fabric covering his face in shadows, looking normal, and the other, wearing a black shirt and piece of fabric covering his face, who looked almost see through. Both of them seemed to be trying to get away from each other. And then, an enormous crash and a blinding white light came from the centre of the Arena, which temporarily blinding Hiccup, Fradokos, Rachel and the crowd. When they were able to see again, what they saw confused them: On one side of the Arena, was Marko, sat against the wall, breathing deeply, and there was a small and barely noticeable crater above him, where he must have hit. And on the other, was an almost identical image of Marko, but he was wearing a pure black piece of fabric over his face, a bit like Marko's, except being a different colour, and it had the same symbol Marko's hood had. He also had those blood red eyes that stood out like a sore thumb under that hood.

Hiccup, still wondering if his eyes were working properly, walked slowly into the Arena, watched by the stunned crowd and Toothless and Ice, looking between Marko and the new comer, Fradokos and Rachel, who had taken their weapons out (Fradokos, his sword, and Rachel, two mid length daggers) and were pointing them at the new comer, and his father, who was still knocked out. "Who is he?" he asked Fradokos and Rachel, but it was Marko who answered, "Black Ash..." in a cold tone.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Black Ash let out a low dragon-like growl, before standing up slowly, and slowly started to walk towards Marko and the others, who were still frozen, either with shock or fear. That was, until, Marko slowly stood up, and was about to walk to meet Black Ash in the middle of the Arena, but was stopped by Rachel grabbing his arm, shaking her head. But Marko still looked at Black Ash with a dead glare, and finally, Black Ash came to a stop, right in the middle of the Arena, and looked up.

Then Black Ash started to chuckle darkly, before saying, **"At last...Freedom,"** and then there was a ripping of cloth, and out of his back came a pair of what looked like bat wings: great thin flaps of rotten black skin, connecting three main bones, covering in skin, and the wing itself seemed to come from Black Ash's shoulder blades. He then looked back at Marko, and said, **"Until we meet again, Marko. Until we meet again." **And with a large flap of his wings, Black Ash crashed through the chain covering the Arena, causing it to fall into the Arena, and Black Ash was nothing more than a small black dot in the sky.

Marko wrenched his arm out of Rachel's grip, gave her a cold stare, and slowly, started to walk up to one half of his mask. When he reached down to pick it up, Hiccup could see he was slightly shaking. When Marko stood up again, he was looking at the fractured mask, before shaking his head and dropping it again. Not looking at anyone, he made his way towards the entrance and was soon out of sight. Looking between themselves, Hiccup, Fradokos and Rachel, ignoring the crowd, who were once again talking between themselves, made their way to follow Marko, who was heading towards the Great Hall.

After a few minutes' walk, they arrived at the doors of the Great Hall, which had been left agar by Marko. Looking at each other, Fradokos pushed open the doors completely. All the torches had been lit for the feast after the fights, but no one had come down for after what had happened, except Marko. There, on one of the tables near the corner of the hall, sat Marko, a glass of mead in his hand, and a depressing look on his face. Looking at him with sympathy, Hiccup walked over to his friend and sat down next to him. Fradokos and Rachel followed, sitting opposite him. "Why are still near me?" asked Marko, looking at the three of them, "You've seen what's inside in. You two should know better than Hiccup," and he pointed at Fradokos and Rachel. Fradokos sighed, and Rachel reached out and placed her hand on Marko's, and said, "Marko, you know we're you're friends to the end, even if Black Ash was in you."

Hiccup spoke up, "So, who IS this 'Black Ash'?" At the mention of his name, Marko clenched his hand that was holding the glass into a fist, and let out a shaky sigh. Marko started, "He's a monster. Nothing more, nothing less. I've had him most, if not all, of my life. I've never told anyone, except Fradokos and Rachel. He's like the dark side of me: I'm like ice, he's like fire. It's hard being near each other, and yet we need one another. Years ago, we couldn't be apart from more than a couple of days. But now...we can survive without each other." But Hiccup was confused by this.

"But, isn't that a good thing?" Marko looked coldly at him, "No, it's not a good thing: when we couldn't survive without each other, I'd always know we become one again, but now, I KNOW he won't come back. He'll want to get as far away as he can. The last time he got out...he destroyed Molak." Hiccup was shocked: the great village of Molak, destroyed? "How?" asked Hiccup, but Marko was taking a great gulp of mead, so he couldn't answer, so Rachel answered for him, "Black Ash got released when Marko found out that someone had killed his uncle. That was the first time he really lost it: much like earlier, Black Ash came out with a flash of light and a crash. He destroyed everything: humans, dragons, houses: all up in flames. Only me, Marko and Fradokos managed to stop him: all the other people who tried had been killed. And then for some reason, Black Ash disappeared and went back into Marko's body."

But there was one thing that Hiccup didn't understand, "What do you think Black Ash wants?" Marko sighed and put down the glass, and said, "When he went back inside me, I felt a feeling that I never thought Black Ash could feel: remorse. He felt terrible for destroying Molak, so that means..." Marko stopped, and then started to breathe deeply. "Oh no. That means only one thing: he's going to level Berk, make it a new Molak." Marko stood up quickly, knocking over his glass. "I've got to find him," said Marko, moving away from the table and started to run towards the door. Sighing, Hiccup, Fradokos and Rachel got up from the table and, they too, started to run after Marko.

"Marko!" Fradokos called out, but Marko wasn't paying attention: he had stopped just outside the door and whistled for Ice. "Marko, you don't even know where Black Ash is! How are you going to find him!" stated Fradokos, but Ice had just turned up and Marko quickly strapped himself on and turned to the three of them, and said, "I don't care. I just need to find him, no matter what." And with that, Ice flapped her mighty wings, and they were soon flying high in the sky, and out of the sight of Hiccup and the White Fury tribe members view.

_Black Ash – The Dragons Nest_

After a lengthy flight, Black Ash landing on what he knew was the old Dragons Nest, now abandoned. He then tensed up and felt his wings melting into his back. After rolling his shoulders to make sure that it was all still comfortable, Black Ash chuckled lightly and started to walk over the rocky beach. Looking around, all he could see was the grey mists that surrounded the island and the great cliff that stood over him.

Black Ash let out a sigh of relief: he had been trapped in that waste of breath 'Marko' for too long, he was glad to be free of him. He looked up into the darkened hole of a cave in the face of the cliff: _That must of been where that 'Hiccup's' tribe had attacked the Red Death, _thought Black Ash, and looking around, he spotted the remaining bones of the dragon: the teeth alone were two thirds of Black Ash's height and some of the other bones that he couldn't recognise that were about three times his height, and were about his height in thickness, as well.

Black Ash turned around to face the shore at the sound of a ship running into the stones, and the general chatter of the crew. Smiling darkly, Black Ash slowly made his way towards the shore, guided by his hearing, for he was unable to see because of the mist. After another couple of steps, the front of a Viking long boat broke through the mist: its painted face was looking at Black Ash blankly. The sound of stones crunching together made Black Ash turn to the outline of a man that had just jumped off the boat: he was about the height of Stoic the Vast, as just as menacing looking. He had a great black beard that made it down to his chest, and dragging behind him, was a great black cape, and he was wearing a dark grey chain metal suit.

"**So, I see that you got my message?" **asked Black Ash, to which the new-comer nodded, and he pulled out something from behind him: it was an arrow, pure black from the sharpened front to the feathers on the end of it. "I take it your Black Ash?" asked the new-comer in a thick Scottish accent, and Black Ash nodded. Smiling in an evil manner, the new-comer continued "So is it true? What you said in the message? We're gonna level Berk?" Again, Black Ash nodded and said, **"With your help, ATT, we will level Berk in under a day. All I need is your agreement."** The man known as 'ATT' looked angered. "And why do I need your agreement?" he asked sharply.

Black Ash looked up and brought his right hand level with ATT's heart, and said, **"Because you own me, Alvin."** And he slowly started to push his hand forward, trying to make contact with Alvin's chest, but he was slowly backing away. **"One touch is all it takes, Alvin: I was hesitant once, don't think next time I will be so kind," **Black Ash whispered darkly, and Alvin nodded rather forcefully. Black Ash smiled softly, yet darkly, and whispered, **"Good: then perhaps we can get started."** Still looking at Alvin, Black Ash walked past him and climbed onto the ship, much to the dislike of the crew. "Hey, what are yer doing here?" shouted one of the crew, grabbing an axe and pointing the middle of the double edged weapon at Black Ash's throat. "NO! Don't let him touch you!" warned Alvin, but it was too little, too late: Black Ash had already grabbed onto the crew member's arm. The crew member gasped in pain, dropped the axe and tried to get out of Black Ash's grip, but he wasn't letting go.

Eventually, the man stopped struggling and leaned against Black Ash, who pushed him off and he fell on the floor, dead. The rest of the crew shouted in anger, grabbing their weapons and advancing on Black Ash, who merely stood his ground. But before they could come within five feet of Black Ash, he was blocked from view by Alvin (who was keeping a distance between him and Black Ash) and shouted, "Back off! Stay back or he'll kill you all!" That stopped the crew in their tracks. Black Ash emerged from behind Alvin, and stood beside him, facing the crew.

"**Well, this is going to be fun,"** said Black Ash, an evil smile forming on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh no, whats Black Ash planing? You'll have to wait, because Im not sure what chapter to put it in. And no, it's not going to be in Chapter 14. Also, I've put a pole on my aurthors page for the title of the sequel. So, if you can vote for your favourite one, I'll really like that.<strong>

**-Nightfury991 **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

_Hiccup, Fradokos and Rachel – Berk_

The three friends of Marko were still shocked by his sudden departure, and it took all of Rachel's strength to stop Fradokos from calling White Light and chasing after him. "No! Let me go! He'll die without us to help!" shouted Fradokos, but Rachel's grip didn't loosen. "No, if you go after him, you'll probably die, too" said Rachel calmly, and after a few more minutes struggling, Fradokos let out a sigh of defeat and stopped struggling.

After knowing that Fradokos wasn't going to run away, Rachel nodded and let go of him, and he walked

Over to the edge and looked up to the sky, hoping that by some miracle that Marko would return any minute. Rachel walked up to Hiccup, and asked, "Can you keep an eye on him, please?" flicking her eyes for a second towards Fradokos. Hiccup nodded, and Rachel smiled softly and made her way towards the centre of the village to find her White Fury, Cloud. Unsure what to do, Hiccup walked up next to Fradokos and looked out to sea. "How long have you two being friends?" asked Fradokos suddenly, and Hiccup was confused to what he meant. "You and Marko, I mean?" he explained, and Hiccup understood and told him about how Marko and he had met and explaining what happened between that and when they turned up.

When he had finished, Fradokos seemed satisfied and continued to look up to the sky, waiting for Marko. Hiccup, trying to get a conversation going again, asked, "So, how long have you and Marko known each other?" Sighing, Fradokos responded, "I first met Marko at the Dragon Initiation Ceremony: I was the one after him to be chosen by the dragons. When I entered the Arena I managed to get a short glimpse of him and Ice before they exited. But when I was ready for the Ceremony to begin, I did what everyone was told before we entered the Arena: I closed my eyes and tried to open my mind. I tell you though; it's rather hard to do that without peaking when you hear the sounds of dragon growls in front of you. But when I was told to open my eyes, I came face-to-face with a White Fury, or White Light."

Choosing his words carefully, Hiccup gingerly asked, "What was Molak like?" To this, Fradokos chuckled. "Molak was a sight to behold: our village was set on the edge of the island near the sea, much like your village is. The forests that surrounded Molak were...untouched. It was so peaceful; I would sometimes get away from the others and have a little 'me' time in the forest. But that was before it was destroyed, along with the rest of Molak." Giving Fradokos some time to recover from the harsh memories, Hiccup tried to put together what he had been told about Molak: the great village of Molak, home to the White Fury tribe, completely obliterated by a single being?

After a few more minutes silent, Hiccup heard Fradokos mutter, "I knew I should have gone after him." Turning to face Fradokos, Hiccup asked, "Why was Rachel trying to stop you then?" Fradokos sighed, and answered, "Because she knows that Black Ash is too powerful for even the entire islands populating of White Furies, let alone just two of them. If I when after Marko and we found Black Ash, we both would have been destroyed." Surprised to how calm Fradokos was about this, Hiccup didn't notice at first that Toothless had come up behind him and was nudging his head against his arm. When he did notice, he looked down at Toothless' concerned eyes and said, "I'm OK bud, just a little worn down. That's all."

Toothless let out a cornered croon, and Hiccup patted his friends head to try and comfort him. After another minute of silence, the sound of panting broke it. Turning around, they were met with the sight of Snotlout, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, but at the same time, he was trying to speak. "Meeting...Great Hall...you have to go...Why'd you have to be so far away?" he panted, clutching a stitch in his side.

Normally, Hiccup would've found it confusing that his father would want him to attend a meeting, but this time, he was almost positively sure what this was about: Marko. Shaking his head, Hiccup muttered, "You'd better come as well," to Fradokos, and the three humans and Night Fury slowly made their way towards the Great Hall, as a storm gathered over head. As they got closer to the Hall, the wind started picked up and thunder could be heard in the distance. Just as they got to the doors of the Great Hall, it had started to rain.

Before they could get completely soaked, the Vikings and Dragon walked through the doors and closed them behind them, which drew the attention of everyone in the Hall. Hiccup looked around: he was surprised to how fast the food had been cleared away and how fast the Vikings had gathered there. And on the far side of a giant table that had been created, stood Stoic: his nose was bent to the left slightly, and his eye had turned a dark purple in the time since the Fight. His eye met Hiccups, and he started to speak. "Good," he started, "everyone's here. Now we can start. First, we have to decide about what we are going to do about that...that beast!" There were a few cheers to this. Hiccup looked around, and finally, his eyes lay upon the rest of the teens. Carefully, he made his way towards them while his father continued on with his speech. Every so often, he caught brief words or sentences from his father, like 'he needs to die' and 'that beast must not live'.

When Hiccup finally reached his friends, he noticed that Tuffnut was carrying a spear and flexing his fingers over the handle. Walking up to Astrid, he whispered, "How long has he been like this?" He pointed at his father. Astrid looked at him, and replied, "Ever since the Fight ended: some of the Vikings who saw what happened must of told him." Shaking his head, Hiccup looked at his father, who was now saying, "So, it is arranged: the second that...thing steps on Berk, we kill him! No second chances!" Great cheers came from nearly every person in the Hall, except from Hiccup, Astrid and Fradokos: the rest of the teens had grabbed their weapons and were now cheering along with the rest of the Vikings.

"They can't do this!" whispered Hiccup furiously, as the Vikings all left the Hall to prepare the old Dragon Raid weapons for Marko. Astrid sighed, and replied, "It's not like you can stop it now Hiccup: there'll be keeping every spare person on look out and try to shoot him and Ice down." At the mention of him mate getting hurt, Toothless growled quietly. "Hey, it's alright, Tooth: Ice won't get hurt, hopefully." Toothless calmed somewhat at his riders words. Hiccup looked over to the open doors: it was still raining, but it wasn't as hard as it had been. Also, the thunder had given up as well.

Sighing, Hiccup walked up to the doors and looked out: it was nearly nightfall. Some of the Vikings had gone to their homes and Hiccup could see dimly lit fires through the windows. Most of the Vikings, however, had headed up to the villages Sky Light's to prepare them for the night watch for Marko. Sighing, Hiccup thought, _it's been done; nothing else can stop it_, and started to walk to his house, with Toothless and Fradokos following him. With Hiccup leading them, Fradokos and Toothless started a conversation.

"_So, you're the famous Toothless that Ice is always on about?" _asked Fradokos, a small smile appearing across the Dragons scaly face. _"Ice's been talking about me?"_ To this, Fradokos answered, _"You're joking, right? She's always telling Cloud and White Light about you, and they tell what see's told them to me and Rachel. Oh yeah, and a word of advice: Ice isn't that good at keeping secrets."_ Toothless chuckled, _"I'll keep that in mind." _By the time they had finished, they had arrived at Hiccup's house. Fradokos bid his goodbyes to the both of them, and headed off into the forest.

"Come on, bud. We need some sleep: we've got to think of a way to persuade dad to-..." Hiccup stopped mid sentence as he opened the front door. There, stood by the dimly lit fire, stood a figure: he was taller than Hiccup by a clear foot and he was wearing a black hooded shirt stood with his back to Hiccup, looking down towards the fire. When he turned around, Hiccup caught a glance of a White Fury that was on the owners left side of his face. **"Ah, we meet at last, young Haddock..."** growled Black Ash.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Breathing deeply, Hiccup looked at Black Ash, unmoving. **"What? Surprised to see me again so soon?"**Toothless growled angrily at Black Ash, but at that moment, Black Ash said, **"Raht faram murca, traciam. Mieca!" **At these words, Toothless' eyes flew open and he slumped against the floor, the green of his eyes slowly leaving them. "Toothless!" cried Hiccup, falling to his knees and putting his hand against Toothless' neck, hoping that there was still a heartbeat.

"**You do not need to worry, Haddock: I would never harm a Night Fury. Your Dragon will live; that is, as long as you do as I say," **growled Black Ash, just as he clicked his fingers. And at that moment, the door behind Hiccup closed shut. Hiccup looked up from Toothless' frozen body, and muttered, "How did you get here so fast?" Black Ash chuckled darkly, before walking up to Hiccup, and kneeing down until he was eye level with Hiccup: blood red eyes staring into green ones. **"Having Dragon wings does have more than one advantage, Haddock. Speed, for example: I can travel the distance that would normally take two days by boat, takes me about...what, an hour?"**

Standing up again, Black Ash asked, **"Well, what are you waiting for? Next question."** Hiccup had hundreds of questions flying around inside his head, but he could make his mouth form a few of them, including, "What are you?" After this question sunk in, the smirk started to fade off Black Ash's face, and was replaced by a low growl. But it stopped once Black Ash started to speak, **"I am what your kind would call a 'bug'; a parasite: I latch onto any person that accidently wonders into my grasp, and I become one with them, by merging with them. Then, all I do is suck them dry of their emotions, and then, I search for my next meal."**

Filled with rage, Hiccup blurted out, "Is that all we are to you? Just an appetiser?" At this insult, Black Ash looked Hiccup in the eye and whispered, **"Remember, Haddock: your Dragons life hangs in the balance of your chosen words. I can easily end it...just like that."** After making sure Hiccup wasn't going to talk back, Black Ash smiled evilly, and said, **"And to answer your question, yes, most of your kind I think of as appetisers, but there are those rare few how I feel are...more special than the others."**

Hiccup, who had calm down a bit said, "Like Marko?" At his name, Black Ash's left eye twitched, but it stopped once he started to speak in a harsh tone, **"You could say that. But...but I've been hiding inside that waste of breath for too long. I've permanently become connected to him. This,"** he said, pointing a finger at the White Fury tattoo on his face, **"is the sign that I've become one with my victim. With no way out. After he dies, I won't be long after." **

Looking down at Hiccup, Black Ash asked, in an almost casual way, **"Did Marko ever tell you about a prophecy? When he was on Molak, I mean?" **Thinking it over in his head for a moment, Hiccup shook his head. Cocking his head slightly, Black Ash said, **"Odd, I would have thought...Anyway, with the prophecy."**

"**The prophecy goes, 'A time will come when the Shadows of Death and the Light of Life will be forced to become one. Then, a day will come when the connection is destroyed by anger and rage. And when that time comes...Nether can live while the other dies.'" **As Black Ash finished telling Hiccup about the prophecy, he was left with more questions than answers. **"Don't you see?"** shouted Black Ash unexpectedly, but Hiccup just shook his head. **"'The Shadow of Death, the Light of Life'? That represents me and that waste of breath, Marko! 'Forced to become one,' that's when I attached to him for food. 'A day will come when the connection is destroyed,' that happened earlier, at that 'Fight' he was at. And..."**

"'Nether can live while the other dies," finished Hiccup, his eyes widening at the reality of what that meant. **"We both die or we both live. And I can't live knowing that the person who made my life a living hell is alive as well!" **Black Ash was now almost pressed against Hiccup's. Hiccup then asked, "Why are you telling me all of this?" At this, Black Ash laughed darkly and, without warning, brought his knee into Hiccup's chin, causing the smaller boy to fall backwards because of the momentum. As he falls against the floor again, Hiccup felt blood dripping from his nose.

"**Did you know, young Haddock,"** questioned Black Ash, as he kneeled down next to Hiccup, **"that some Vikings, when digging underground, use little birds called 'Canaries' to see if it was safe for the brute of the tribe to come down." **Hiccup was about to ask what that had to do with Black Ash being here when he answered his question for him. **"Let me say this: I'm the Canary, and a rival tribe leader known as Alvin the Treacherous and his tribe are the brutes."**

Hiccup, now realising what that meant, was about to say something, but Black Ash grabbed his throat, and whispered, **"To put it so that even your petit mind can understand it: you...are...at...war!"** Having finished, Black Ash punched Hiccup in the face, causing Hiccup to be struggle with staying conscious. Having let go of Hiccup, Black Ash stood up, and said, **"Oh, and by the way, you won't remember any of the past conversation that we had. So, night-night, young Viking: for it is the last time you'll be able to have."**

And with that, Hiccups vision started to fade, and with a final fuzzy image of Black Ash, Hiccups vision turned to complete darkness, and he could remember no more. Just the last, deadly image of Black Ash looking over him, an evil look written on his face.


	16. Chapter 16

The White Fury Tribe Chapter 16:

Groaning, Hiccup pulled his upper body from the comfort of his bed. Rubbing his eyes, Hiccup tried to think about what happened yesterday: he could remember his father's speech, and then he walked back home with Toothless and Fradokos; he said goodbye to Fradokos, and then...

Hiccup couldn't remember anymore after that, but he had a feeling that it was something important. Yawning, Hiccup went to put his hand out over his mouth, but as he did, his eyes widened in shock. Blood. Dried blood covered his upper lip and nose. Wincing slightly, Hiccup brought his hand up to his nose, and felt that his nose was bent to the left slightly. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup grabbed his nose and, groaning is pain, snapped his nose back into place. As it snapped into place, Hiccup let out a loud groan of pain, which woke up the sleeping Dragon next to his bed.

Crooning in worry, Toothless rested his head on Hiccup's lap. "I'm alright, buddy," Hiccup said in a hoarse tone, "just a little tired from yesterday...whatever happened." Judging by his Dragons slit eyes, he didn't believe him. Sighing, Hiccup swung his leg over the side of the bed, and stood up, only to fall back on the bed again. Sighing, Hiccup wrapped his arm around Toothless' neck and walked towards the door and opened it. Once they were down the stairs, Hiccup and Toothless heard a knock at the door.

Curious, Hiccup let go of Toothless and, shaking slightly, walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Astrid. "Hey, Hiccup, how are you...what's happened to your face?" she asked, shocked. Hiccup, still dazed from the sun hitting his eyes when he opened the door, didn't answer at first. "Hiccup? Hel-lo, Hiccup?" asked Astrid, waving her hand in front of Hiccup's face. "Ha? Wha? Oh, Astrid, hey there," answered Hiccup, smiling toothily. "Hiccup, what's happened to your face?" Astrid asked, again. Hiccup looked confused, but then remembered the blood under his nose. "Oh, that...I'm not really sure how it got there."

"Don't you remember anything about that," Astrid asked, pointing at the dried blood. Hiccup shook his head, thus ending that conversation. Minutes later, Cloud swiftly landed in front of Hiccup's house, grunting at Toothless. Curious, Hiccup watched Toothless walk over to Cloud, and they started to grunt to each other. _"What is the meaning of this, Cloud?"_ asked Toothless rather rudely. _"You must tell your rider this information, and I think it will be of good use to you, as well: Ice and White Shadow have returned to Berk." _At this information, Toothless' eyes widened in shock: Ice didn't know how dangerous it was for her and Marko to return at this moment.

"_Where are they now? I need to see them...now!"_ hissed Toothless and Cloud said, _"Follow me,"_ and with that, Cloud gave an all mighty flap of her wings, and was soon flying high about Berk. Not too soon after, Toothless walked back over to Hiccup, who was now talking to Astrid. Toothless rubbed his head against Hiccups arm, and tried to tell his rider that they needed to go, now.

"What is it Toothless?" asked Hiccup, and Toothless pointed his snout to the skies, and Hiccup understood. "Oh, you want to go flying, do you, bud?" asked Hiccup, and Toothless nodded. "Hiccup, do you really think it's a good idea to go flying in your condition?" asked Astrid sternly, and Hiccup stopped halfway between the doorframe. Thinking about it for a moment, Hiccup replied, "Okay, then. I'll get Toothless' 'Self-Flying' tail fin." After Toothless had completely destroyed his tail fin that Hiccup had made for him during the Viking Christmas holiday, it had taken Hiccup several weeks to fix it. Normally, toothless wouldn't have wanted the tail fin on without Hiccup riding on him, but this time it was important: he NEEDED to see his mate. Toothless waiting patiently while his rider attached the tail fin to him, and once Hiccup had given him the all clear, Toothless grunted a 'thank you' to Hiccup, and he gave a mighty flap of his wings, and he was soon high about Berk, flying level with Cloud, who had waited for him to get up into the sky.

"_Follow me,"_ said Cloud, and they started to make their way towards the north of Berk, where the trees started to become closer together and there much taller. After another few more minutes flight north, Cloud turned towards the west, towards the sea. Curious, Toothless followed her. After about ten minutes flight, they reached the sea: the water was crashing into the rocks just off the cliff. _"Why are we here?" _asked Toothless, but Cloud didn't answer: instead, she had started to go into a dive towards the cliff, and Toothless, not completely sure of what she was doing, followed her.

When they were almost level with the waves, Cloud stopped diving, as did Toothless. Just as they reached the cliff, a small cave appeared, a small orange light coming out of the darkness. Curious, Toothless followed Cloud into the cave, having to fold his wings against his body as best as they could to fit inside. And in the centre of the cave, a large, dimly lit fire roared, covering the entire cave in a bright orange-yellow glow. On one side of the cave, was Ice, curled up against the cave wall. Upon hearing someone enter, Ice perked her ears up and looked towards the entrance and gasped, _"Toothless!"_ and ran up to him, nuzzling her neck against his.

As the two mates showed their affection towards each other, Toothless' eyes fell on something that was against the other side of the cave: it was Marko, breathing deeply, one of his hand clutching his the side of his ribs, and there was blood covering the floor surrounding him. Next to him, sat Rachel: she was holding a leave, which was covered in a strange green paste, and she was smearing it over the parts of the wound that Marko's hand wasn't covering. Looking up, Marko muttered, _"Toothless, glad you could make it,"_ before letting out a grunt of pain as Rachel put some paste over a large, rather painful looking area.

"_I told you not to go: I knew this was going to happen,"_ said Rachel harshly, but Marko didn't pay her any attention, judging by the plain expression on his face. _"Marko, what happened?"_ asked Toothless, and Marko snapped his head towards Toothless. Marko then said, _"Ambushed: me and Ice never stood a chance. Someone called 'Alvin the Treacherous' or something like that. From what I heard, he's a rival tribe leader. But that's not the important thing; the important thing is that your tribe is war with Alvin's."_

Toothless' eyes widened in shock, but then went back to normal, and said, _"You cannot be serious! We would have known about that!"_ Gritting his teeth, Marko slowly stood up, leaning against the wall for support. When he was at his full height, all be it him leaning slightly from his wound, and said, _"I never lie. Now, if I were you, I'd go back to warn Hiccup. Go!"_ And with a final glare and a nuzzle to Ice, Toothless made his way through the cave opening, and started the trip back to Berk. And during the entire journey, he thought about nothing but what Marko say:_ we are at war._

Those words rang in Toothless' head for most of the journey back, but near the of it, he thought, _**Why should I be worried about a war between them? We Dragons and Vikings only stopped a thousand generation war a month ago. Why should this worry me?**_ Shaking his head, Toothless found that he was over the village. Deciding that that question should be answered later, Toothless landed outside Hiccups house. Looking around, Toothless couldn't see his rider any were. _**He must be working at that forge of his**_, thought Toothless. Deciding that he should wait for Hiccup to finish whatever he was doing at the forge, Toothless curled up outside his rider's house, and almost instantly fell asleep, and that's when it started to get strange...

_Toothless' Dream_

_Everywhere he looked, there was fire: massive, ten feet tall, walls of thick, orange fire. Normally, he wouldn't have been scared, but he felt that something...something was missing. He tried to light a fire inside his chest, but when he breathe out, nothing came out. His eyes widened: he had lost his fire! In panic, he looked around, hoping that there was some way out. Then, in the distant, he saw a gap in the wall of fire. _

_Excited, he began to run as fast as he could towards the gap in the fire. But, when he was within a few meters of the gap, and large figure landed in front of him, blocking the gap. Looking up, he noticed that the figure looked human, but he couldn't tell because there was a kind of helmet on. But there was something that confused him because it looked...it looked like a Night Fury. And looking at him, through a slit in the helmet, were a pair of acid-green eyes. And then, it spoke in a deep, rough voice, "__**You have been given a gift that few rarely have: take it as a warning from the future. Use it."**__ And with that, he pulled a sword out from its sheath from his side, and with a slash towards Toothless' head, he was plunged into darkness... _


	17. Chapter 17

The White Furies Chapter 17:

Toothless woke up, breathing deeply and trying to calm down. Thinking back to the 'dream', it almost sounded...it looked and felt like it was an old Dragon hatchling story, one of the first stories you were told when you came out of your egg. Thinking hard, Toothless remember the name that the Dragons called it. _**The Dragon King,**_ thought Toothless.

The Dragon King was a very old Dragon tale that adult Dragons told their young. But the funny thing is that no-one, Viking or Dragon, knew when or where the story first started. But Toothless didn't have time to think about what he had seen, because when he looked up, he saw Hiccup and Fradokos walking towards him, talking to each other about things that Toothless wasn't paying attention to. "...So, you've 'thought' up the design that our ancestors have been using for generations?" said Fradokos, to which Hiccup nodded.

Hiccup looked up, and saw Toothless, and said, "Ah, Toothless, how long have you been here?" Purring, Toothless walked up to Hiccup and he let his rider scratch his head, thumping his tail in affection. "Where've you been, Tooth?" asked Fradokos, kneeing down to Toothless' eye level, "I haven't seen you for awhile." Remembering what he had seen earlier, and muttered, _"Marko is back on Berk."_ Eyes widened in shock, Fradokos stood to his full height again, leaned towards Hiccup, and said, "Hiccup, I think we need to discuss something. Something, somewhere more...private." Looking around, Fradokos pointed towards Hiccups house. Quickly, Fradokos, Hiccup and Toothless walked into Hiccups house.

Shutting the door behind them, Fradokos turned around to face Hiccup, and said, "Look, I don't want to panic you or anything, but there might be the slightest chance that Marko is back on the island." Judging by Hiccups expression, which was that his mouth was hanging open as far as it would go, he was much more than panicky. "Hel-lo, Hiccup? Are you in there?" asked Fradokos, waving his hand in front of Hiccups face. After a minute of doing this, Hiccup managed to come out of his state of panic, and said, "No one is to know about this, okay? If anyone on the island gets wind of this, the next time we see Marko is when his dead body is being thrown into the sea."

After making sure that they weren't going to tell anyone (Fradokos making sure Toothless wouldn't tell any Dragon that had an owner), they exited Hiccups house, looked around to see if anyone was looking at them strangely. When they saw no one, they went their separate ways: Hiccup and Toothless, towards the forge, and Fradokos was heading towards the woods. After Fradokos was in a small clearing in the woods, he whistled for White Light. When the White Fury landed in front of him, he mounted him and said, _"Take me to Marko."_ And with that, they were high in the sky, heading towards Marko's secret cave.

_Hiccup and Toothless – The Forge_

After the short meeting with Fradokos about Marko, Hiccup needed to take his mind off that subject, so he decided to go to the forge to finish something his was making. Toothless, deciding he'd rather not have another dream like last time went along to the forge with Hiccup. Looking around when they got there, they were surprised to see that Gobber wasn't there. Shrugging his shoulders, Hiccup thought Gobber was having a day off or something like that.

Walking towards the back room, Hiccup grabbed his apron from its hook, and put it on. "Stay right there, Toothless: I've got a surprise for you." Curious, Toothless did as Hiccup had said and waiting outside the door of the forge. When Hiccup came back, he was carrying a large fish in his hand. Purring loudly, Toothless got up and looked at Hiccup with eyes that plainly said, 'Thank you!' Chuckling, Hiccup threw the fish in the air, which was gracefully caught by Toothless, who then gulped it down.

Turning around, Hiccup walked towards the table that was in the middle of the back room. Then all of a sudden, Hiccup saw something shiny underneath the piles of paper on the table. Curious, he brushed away some of the papers that were directly on top of the shiny thing, and when he saw it, he got the surprise of his life.

There, hidden away under the pieces of paper, was a sword: the blade was made of the most spotless steel Hiccup had ever seen. The handle was even more incredible: around the base where the blade came out, was a bronze Night Fury head with its mouth open to let the sword out. Looking closer, Hiccup noticed that there was a note attached to the handle. Curious, Hiccup undid the note from the sword, and it read:

_Hiccup,  
>By now, I would've thought you knew who sent you the sword. And if not, then why not? And I thought I'd tell you a bit about this sword while I'm at it: this sword was forged using the fires of a White Fury, or Ice to be more detailed: meaning it can cut through anything. Please take care of it; it took ten hours to make.<em>

_See you soon,  
>Mystery<em>

_P.S. a darker day is approaching, so this might come in handy._

Hiccup thought for a few seconds: he knew that 'Mystery' was something important. But after reading it through again, it came back to him in a nanosecond: it was Marko. Making sure no one was looking through the doorframe, Hiccup picked up the sword and placed upright in a dark corner of the backroom. After making sure that it wouldn't be able to be seen easily, Hiccup walked out to Toothless.

"Hey, Tooth? Guess what was on the table in there?" said Hiccup, and Toothless looked at him with a questioning expression. After Hiccup told Toothless about the sword, Toothless narrowed his eyes and turned around and flapped his wings. Confused at first, Hiccup ended up thinking, _He's probably gone to find Marko._

Meanwhile, Toothless had returned to the cave where Marko was hiding. After walking through the cave opening, and into view of the White Furies, Marko said, _"What's this? Two visits in one day? I must be really special." _Growling, Toothless said, _"Why did you give Hiccup that sword? He never carries a weapon anymore."_ Looking at Toothless, Marko said, _"The letter should've explained everything: 'a darker day is approaching': that is the day when Black Ash comes here." _Snorting angrily, Toothless went to exit the cave, but what Marko said next stopped him, dead in his tracks: _"That vision was not put inside your head by luck, Toothless: it was put there as a warning of what is yet to happen."_

Toothless turned around, eyes widened and whispered, _"How did you know?" _Marko merely looked at him coldly, and said, _"Go: Hiccups probably wondering where you are."_ Completely bewildered to how Marko knew about Toothless' vision, Toothless left the cave. Little did he know however, that on a small island of the coast, stood two figures: one was covered in armour and was wearing a cape, and the other, who only came only to the first persons shoulder, was wearing no armour, but a black hooded shirt.

"**It's is time,"** said Black Ash, slowly pulling his sword from its sheath, **"for Berk to fall to its knees."**


	18. Chapter 18

The White Furies Chapter 18:

There, overshadowing Black Ash and Alvin, were a hundred-strong fleet of Viking long boats, each carrying a large catapult and a large pile of massive stones on board. And on each of them, were an army of strong, armed and extremely violent Vikings, all of whom were flexing their fingers around their chosen weapons.

"**Gentlemen,"** said Black Ash, turning around to face the army, **"it is time: time for us to take control of Berk, once and for all!"** To this, the entire Viking army cheered and shouted. After the shouts calmed down, Alvin stepped forward, and said, "Alright, men! Load the catapults and prepare to fire!" Even though the Vikings listened to Black Ash, they were all still loyal to Alvin. After all the catapults were loaded and ready, the army started to pick up the wind and started to head towards Berk.

As one of the nearby boats past, Black Ash and Alvin climbed aboard. **"Set your sight on Berk, and blow it into the sea!"**

_Toothless – Skies of Berk_

As Toothless flew home, a strange smell made its way up his nostrils. It smelt...different, and dangerous. Looking back, Toothless eyes widened: behind him, a hundred Viking long boats were powering towards Berk at an alarming rate. Flapping his wings harder, Toothless started to dive towards the village. Once he landed, Toothless ran through the villagers going about their daily life, unaware of the approaching danger. When he reached Hiccups house, Toothless scratched on his rider door, whining. When Hiccup finally opened the door, he was yawning and said, "What is it, Toothless?"

When Hiccup understood that Toothless wanted to show him something, Hiccup when back inside for a minute and came back wearing his leather flying suit, and just as he climbed on, Toothless shot into the air, and Hiccup was only just able to hang on. "Toothless!" he shouted, "what's wrong! What've you got to show me?" But Hiccups questions were soon answered, as he saw the massive army of long boats, which had now managed to reach Berk and the first ones were already unloading their Viking crew. And on one of the boats, Hiccup saw something that made his blood run cold...

"Black Ash," whispered Hiccup, and at that moment, Black Ash looked up to the sky and looked directly at Hiccup and Toothless. Turning around, he said something to the Vikings and seconds later, the air was filled with flying rocks, most of them getting a little too close to Hiccup and Toothless than they would of wanted. "Come on, buddy! We got to warn the others!" But at that very moment, a rather large rock hit Toothless square in the chest, and Hiccup could of sworn that he heard ribs crack.

Roaring in pain, Toothless started an uncontrollable dive towards the ground at an alarming rate, with Hiccup trying to get him back into the air again. "Come on, bud, come on! You can make it!"But Hiccup knew, as well as Toothless, that they weren't gonna make it back to the village. And with a final cry of pain, Toothless' body crashed into the trees, and then fell to the ground. After that, both of them saw nothing but darkness...

_Astrid and the Teens – Village of Berk_

The calm of the daily life in Berk was shattered when the whole village shook when they heard an agonising roar, coming from behind the northern trees. However, Astrid and the teens knew that roar anywhere. "That was Toothless' roar," said Snotlout matter-of-factly, and with a deadly look from Astrid, the teens mounted their Dragons and headed towards the source of the noise. After a few minutes flight, they came across some broken trees. Curious, Astrid ordered the rest of them to land, and once they were on the ground, Fishlegs said, "Hey, guys! Look at this!"

At once, all the teens crowded around where Fishlegs had pointed out. There, black as night, was a large Night Fury scale. Looking around, Astrid saw a trail of the scales leading towards the western woods, and in the direction of several broken branches and trees. Motioning for the others to follow her, they started in the direction of the scales. After a few minutes' walk, they came across a terrible sight.

In the middle of a clearing lay an unconscious Hiccup and Toothless: there was a large pool of blood surrounding Hiccup, and there was something about Toothless' chest that wasn't right. Carefully, Astrid moved closer towards her boyfriend and his Dragon. But, when she was within a few feet of them, Hiccups eyes flew open and he was gasping for air. Looking over at Astrid, he said in a very hoarse voice, "A-Astrid? Is that you?" Not answering his question, Astrid ran up to him and looked him over, before asking, "What happened to you?"

Astrid saw the worry reflect in his eyes when she asked him. He motioned for her to come closer and when she was within arms distance of him, Hiccup said, "It's Black Ash: he's returned." Confused, Astrid asked, "Who's Black Ash?" After realising that he hadn't explained anything about Black Ash to the teens, Hiccup was about to explain when another voice broke the silence: "He's the darker of me." Shocked, Hiccup and the teens looked up and they saw a formidable sight.

There hovering about them, was Ice, and on her, was Marko. And hovering about them, were Fradokos and Rachel, both of them riding their White Furies. Looking at them, Hiccup now knew why the White Fury tribe was feared so much throughout the legends. Descending a bit, Marko jumped off Ice, but slightly buckled when he landed, and Fradokos and Rachel followed. Marko walked up to Hiccup, but was stopped by Snotlout, who stepped between Hiccup and Marko, and said, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Looking at something behind Snotlout, Marko answered, "Because, I don't think your Dragon would let you."

Curious, Snotlout turned around, only to find that Hookfang wasn't behind him. But when he turned back around, he was surprised to find that the Monstrous Nightmare was behind Marko. Annoyed, Snotlout asked, "Why is he siding with you?"while he was pointing at Marko. Marko let out an almost mocking-like snigger, and answered, "Other Dragons don't like to admit it, but they do respect Dragons that are, how you say, 'higher up on the food chain.' The White Furies, for example," while pointing at Ice, who was now at Toothless' side, nuzzling his head, "are as legendary as the Night Furies: therefore, Nightmares, Nadders, Gronkles, Zipplebacks, they all respect the Furies, deep down."

Snotlout was about to retaliate when Marko put his hand up to stop him. Marko then turned around, and slowly started to back away. "It's Black Ash and Alvin! Their coming! Quick, quick hide!" Natural obeying his orders, Fradokos and Rachel mounted their White Furies and flew high into the air. "Come on, Hiccup, up you get," said Marko, as he slowly picked Hiccup up and pulled Hiccups arm around his neck, and walking towards a thick, nearby tree. Shaking their heads, the other teens and Dragon followed them.

One Ice had helped Toothless move out of the open, and the teens were all hiding, Marko carefully poked his head around the tree.

There, making their way between the trees, were about fifteen large, heavily-armed, muscular Vikings, along with two other people that made Marko's and Hiccup's blood run cold: Marko and Alvin. Alvin was now wearing a bronze helmet that was shaped with two horns coming out of the sides of the helmet, and Black Ash looked the same as he always did: a black hooded shirt covering his face, but two blood red orbs starring out of the shadows. Suddenly, Black Ash stopped and started to sniff the air.

"**Go on without me for a minute," **said Black Ash, a smile making its way across his face, **"I'll be with you in a few minutes: I've got to check something first."** Shrugging his shoulders, Alvin led the rest of the Vikings on towards the direction of Berk. Turning around, Black Ash chuckled and shouted, **"I know you're out here, Marko: you cannot hide from me."** Growling quietly, Marko stepped out from his hiding place. **"So, we meet at last, face to face, after so long, Marko,"** said Black Ash, as Marko started to walk towards his darker side, and they began to circle each other. "And yet, you've hardly changed since I last saw you, when you destroyed Molak," shot back Marko, cold.

Black Ash sighed, and replied, **"I never wanted that to happen: I was just so tired and annoyed about being locked up for so long. Ever since I've become one with you, I have absorbed some of your emotions. YOU,"** shouted Black Ash, pointing a finger at Marko, **"Have changed me! And now, I have the advantage." **But Marko didn't even flinch, and he replied, "Did you really think that I'd come face you, unarmed?" As he slowly pulled one of his swords from a sheath on his back. Smiling, Black Ash said, **"Well, at least you picked up some of MY emotions: the thirst for Blood, for example?"**

Growling angrily, Marko charged at Black Ash and swung his sword at him, only for it to be blocked by a sword in Black Ash's hand. Backing away slightly, Black Ash said, almost normally, **"Do you like the handle of my sword?"** Looking down at it, Marko's blood went cold: the handle of the sword looked like a bone. **"This bone was from my first victim,"** explained Black Ash, studying the sword, **"I believe it was from someone called...Kodiak: it's hard to remember the names of the people you've killed."** Gritting his teeth, Marko went for another hit, but was blocked again. Black Ash then swung a well aimed shot to Marko's rib cage, which caused Marko to fall to the floor in pain.

"**See you in the village," **said Black Ash, backing away and turning around, before disappearing into the trees. "Marko!" shouted Rachel, jumping off Cloud and running to Marko's side. Grunting, Marko got back on his feet again and ran after Black Ash. Sighing, Rachel shouted, "Come on! We have to help him!" Acting on instinct, the Dragons, teens and Fradokos ran, and flew, towards the village. Astrid walked up to Hiccup and put his arm around her neck. "Come on, Hiccup," said Astrid, and Hiccup moaned in pain in response. As the teens and Dragons got closer to the village, they could hear shouts and order being given. Breathing deeply, Astrid tightened her grip on Hiccups side and she told the other teens to pick up the pace. After another few minutes running, and jogging in Astrid's case, they arrived at a horrible sight.

The entire village was set alight: the fire jumped from building to building. Looking to the sky, they saw about a hundred Dragons flying, trying to get down to the ground and rescue their riders. And looking around the entire village, they saw Berk's village trying to fight off the warriors from Alvin's tribe. And right in front of them, stood Marko, looking at the destruction in front of him. And in front of him, stood Black Ash, his back to the burning village, and shouted, **"Do you like it, Marko? Do you like the destruction, knowing full well that it's your fault!"**

But Marko wasn't answering Black Ash's questions: he had dropped his sword, and was looking at the burning village in front of him. "Marko, what do we do?" asked Fradokos, and slowly, Marko turned around and for the first time in their life knowing Marko, the teens and the White Fury tribe members saw something that they thought they never see in Marko's eyes: it was fear.

"There's only one thing we can do," said Marko, his voice quivering, "and that's run: run as fast as you can, because there's nothing else we can do."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's this story finished, but I've started work on the next story, but I need people to decide on which is better: The Rise and Fall of Black Ash or The Last of the White Furies. So, if you could vote on the poll on my author's page, it would be really helpful.<strong>

**And any questions you may have, PM me and I'll try and answer them.**

**Nightfury991 signing out.**


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